Gold Line (Sacramento RT)

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Gold Line
Gold Line short turn train street running through Downtown Sacramento
Overview
Status	Operational
Locale	Sacramento, California
Termini	Downtown (west) Folsom (east)
Stations	27
Service
Type	Light rail
System	Sacramento RT Light Rail
Services	Route 507
Operator(s)	Sacramento Regional Transit District
Daily ridership	16,770 (Q2 2018)[1]
History
Opened	March 12, 1987 (as Watt/I-80–Downtown–Butterfield)
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
hide Route map Legend Sacramento Valley  Green  8th & H/County Center 7th & I/County Center 8th & K  Blue  7th & K (closed 2016) 7th & Capitol 8th & Capitol 8th & O Archives Plaza 13th Street 16th Street Blue Valley Rail   (2023) 23rd Street 29th Street I-80 BL Capital City Freeway 39th Street 48th Street 59th Street University/65th Street Amtrak San Joaquin US 50 Power Inn College Greens Watt/Manlove Starfire US 50 Tiber Butterfield Mather Field/Mills Zinfandel Cordova Town Center US 50 Sunrise double track single track Hazel US 50 Iron Point Glenn Historic Folsom SVRR all stations accessible This diagram: view talk

The Gold Line is a light rail transit line in the Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT) light rail system. Operating between Sacramento Valley and Historic Folsom stations, the line runs primarily east-west in Sacramento (including downtown, Midtown, East Sacramento), portions of unincorporated Sacramento County, Rancho Cordova, Gold River and Folsom. Portions of the Gold Line run along the original initial alignment between 16th Street and Butterfield stations.

History[]

The first light rail line of the RT, which opened in 1987, was an 18.3-mile (29.5 km) route between Watt/I-80 station in North Sacramento, through downtown, and continuing east on Folsom Boulevard to Butterfield Way station. It was built at a cost of $176 million USD ($401 million adjusted for inflation), which included the cost of vehicles and maintenance and storage facilities. Much of the line, when it was first built, was single-tracked, though improvements over the 1990s allowed much of the original system to be double-tracked. The line was built mainly using the Sacramento Valley Railroad right-of-way, coupled with use of structures of an abandoned freeway project.^{[citation needed]} A limited portion of the route runs on streets, mainly in downtown Sacramento.

The line became more popular than anyone anticipated, necessitating further expansions and improvements. Two new stations at 39th and 48th streets opened in 1995, and a 2.3-mile (3.7 km) extension to the Mather Field/Mills station was completed the same year. In June 2004, a further extension from Mather Field/Mills to Sunrise was opened.

On September 26, 2003, the South Line (now part of the Blue Line) opened for 6.3 miles (10.1 km) between the 16th Street station on the Watt/I-80-Downtown-Mather Field/Mills line and a station at Meadowview Road in the south end, which is the first phase of a planned longer 11.2-mile (18.0 km) line to Elk Grove. Much of the extension follows a railroad right-of-way. When it opened, 7 new stops were added to the system.

A CAF trainset Train at Mather Field/Mills station

In June 2005, following a reconfiguration of the light rail system, the Sunrise-Downtown Line was created (it formerly continued beyond the downtown St. Rose of Lima Park station to Watt/I-80); it runs from St. Rose/K-Street to Sunrise with an extension to the Folsom area that opened on October 15, 2005. It has since been redesignated in color as the Gold Line. On December 8, 2006 it was extended even further to the downtown Amtrak depot (a.k.a. the Sacramento Valley Station), connecting the light rail system to the national rail system for the first time.

As of 2020 headways are limited to 30 minutes on the line due to single tracking on the east end between Parkshore Drive and Bidwell Street. Sac RT released a study in 2020 on the possibility of adding additional passing sidings in the area to run twice as many trains in addition to reconfiguring station platforms for use with new low-floor rolling stock.^[2]

Line description[]

A CAF LRV at Archives Plaza Station

The Gold Line begins at its western terminus in downtown at the Sacramento Valley station where it connects with Amtrak. From there it travels on H Street in a single-track, then diverges into one-way tracks for 7th and 8th Streets where it joins the Blue and Green Lines. It then turns westward on O Street, southward on 12th, then eastward in an alley paralleling Q and R Streets. After passing the 16th Street station, the Gold Line splits from the Blue Line (the Green Line terminates at 13th Street station), crossing over a bridge near The Sacramento Bee headquarters, before continuing on R Street in Midtown. It continues in its own right-of-way in East Sacramento next to Highway 50, then crosses under Highway 50 and parallels Folsom Boulevard and the UPRR Placerville Branch Line, which is partly operational today, for most of its length. The Gold Line then reaches its eastern terminus at Historic Folsom station in Folsom, although some trains terminate at Sunrise station.

Listing of stations on the Gold Line[]

Note: former stations are highlighted in gray. The 7th & K platform of the St. Rose of Lima Park station closed on September 30, 2016.

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gold Line (Sacramento RT).

Route map:

• RT Light Rail map
• Gold Line schedule