battalion and crews from the L.A. County
Public Works quickly built the Vincent Grade/
Acton Station. The station was completed in
five days, compared to the usual three to six
months it took to build stations at that time.
earthquake shook the San Fernando Valley area of
northern Los Angeles, causing loss of life, injuries and
$40 billion in infrastructure damages. It was called
the Northridge earthquake because its epicenter was
in Northridge, Calif. The earthquake's violent shaking
caused several freeway structures to collapse. Sections
of some of Southern California's busiest freeways,
including Route 14 (Antelope Valley) and Interstate 5
(Golden State), which parallel Metrolink's Santa Clarita
Line, and Route 118 (Simi Valley) and Interstate 5
(Golden State), which parallel Metrolink's Ventura County Line, were closed to traffic. In contrast, the railroad
tracks stood strong.
Antelope Valley, but those plans were accelerated by almost
10 years after the Northridge earthquake hit. Metrolink
constructed emergency stations along its Santa Clarita and
Ventura County lines so Southern Californians could get
back to work, school or wherever they needed to travel. The
Federal Emergency Management Agency funded both lines'
emergency extensions.
stations in just six short weeks, extending the Santa Clarita
Line from Santa Clarita to Lancaster and the Ventura County
Line from Moorpark to Camarillo: Lancaster, Palmdale,
Sylmar/San Fernando, Vincent Grade/Acton, Via Princessa
and Camarillo. And to top that off, the first two stations
(Lancaster and Palmdale) were built in a mere three days, and
the agency started running trains exactly one week after the
earthquake rocked the region.