SacRT to Temporarily Close 48th Street and 39th Street Stations to Prepare for New Low-Floor Trains

February 13, 2023 SacRT News

Gold Line Light Rail Stations Impacted the Weekends of
February 18 – 19 and February 25 – 26, 2023 postponed due to forecasted wet weather!

The Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) is continuing construction on station modifications to accommodate the platform height requirements for its modern new low-floor light rail trains. The next set of station closures on the Gold Line will be the 48th Street and 39th Street light stations.

To reduce impact to light rail service, crews will work overnight each weekend to complete the station platform modifications. The first station closure was at the 59th Street Station.  

48th Street Closure (February 18 – 19): 

The 48th Street Station, will be closed the weekend of February 18-19, 2023.  A bus bridge (bus service) will be in place between the 29th Street and Power Inn light rail stations from the start of morning service on Saturday, February 18, 2023 through end of service day on Sunday, February 19, 2023. Normal light rail service will resume on Monday, February 20, 2023. 

39th Street Closure (February 25 26): Postponed until March 4 & 5 due to forecasted wet weather.

During the weekend, a bus bridge will be in place between the 29th Street and Power Inn stations from the start of morning service on Saturday, February 25, 2023 through end of service day on Sunday, February 26, 2023. Normal light rail service will resume on Monday, February 27, 2023. 

During construction, the Fare Vending Machines and Connect Card Readers may not be available for use at the closed stations, so riders will need to use a different station if they need to purchase fare.  

After the next two stations are successfully completed, additional Gold Line stations will be temporarily closed in phases each weekend. Riders will be notified about upcoming service disruptions in advance. To stay informed of light rail service disruptions, download the free Alert SacRT app from the App Store or Google Play. 

For more details on the closure including bus bridge details, visit https://www.sacrt.com/station-closures/

The 59th Street Station was the first station platform to be modified. The station platform was raised eight inches above the rail to meet the requirements of the new low floor light rail trains.

The station modifications are one part of the Light Rail Modernization Project, which also include adding a passing track to provide 15-minute service to Folsom area stations and the purchase of new low-floor light rail vehicles.  

The first new low-floor light rail train, which was built at Siemens Mobility in south Sacramento is scheduled to be delivered by the end of the month. This will be the first of 28 trains that Siemens is currently building for SacRT. The contract with Siemens includes options for the purchase of up to 76 light rail vehicles. This first low-floor train will go through a rigorous testing process before it can be put into revenue service with passengers onboard. SacRT expects to have the station conversions and low-floor trains ready for service by summer 2024. Learn more about the testing process here: https://www.sacrt.com/lr-modernization-2/ 

More information on the Light Rail Modernization Project is available at https://www.sacrt.com/modernization/.