The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors voted unanimously Thursday to approve a motion aimed at relocating the Commerce Metrolink station to Pico Rivera, a move that could finally give the city a stop on a rail line that has rolled past it for years without ever picking up a passenger. The board also directed Metro to provide up to $6 million in seed funding for preliminary engineering and environmental review work, with the California High-Speed Rail Authority expected to reimburse Metro for that funding.
A Station Decades in the Making
The motion was introduced by Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board member Janice Hahn, who co-authored it alongside Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson and Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval, according to MyNewsLA.com. Hahn said Pico Rivera residents have been unable to board Metrolink trains passing through their community for years, even though the rail corridor runs directly through the city. Indeed, the City of Pico Rivera’s project page says the Los Angeles-to-Anaheim passenger rail corridor currently runs through but does not stop in Pico Rivera.
The push to relocate comes as plans for the California high-speed rail system move forward, which Metro says means the existing Commerce Metrolink station must be relocated. That station averages about 33 daily boardings, according to Metro. The California High-Speed Rail Authority had recommended relocating the station to an industrial area of Montebello, but Hahn advocated for Pico Rivera as an alternative, saying the station could instead be placed where it better serves riders and strengthens downtown Pico Rivera rather than an industrial site with limited transit connections.
Feasibility Study Years in the Works
Metro has been studying this question since February 2023, when the Metro Board first directed staff to examine adding a new rail station in Pico Rivera, according to the agency’s Pico Rivera Rail Station Feasibility Study page. That study evaluates a potential new Metrolink station between the existing Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs and Commerce stations and is being conducted in partnership with the City of Pico Rivera, Metrolink, LOSSAN, the California High-Speed Rail Authority and BNSF Railway. Metro and the city conducted community outreach on potential locations in late 2024 and early 2025.
The proposed site would sit on the south side of the rail corridor, adjacent to the Rio Hondo Class-I bikeway, and near a regional north-south bus rapid transit line still under study, per the city’s project page. A separate report from the feasibility study estimated a Pico Rivera station could attract between 350 and 430 daily boardings by 2045. If funding and approvals proceed, the project carries a potential five-to-seven-year timeline to completion, according to a report from citizenportal.ai.
Local and State Support Lines Up
City officials have been vocal in pushing the project forward. Pico Rivera City Manager Steve Carmona, speaking at a Metro Board of Directors committee meeting the previous week, said the Pico Rivera City Council unanimously considers the regional rail station critical to the city’s future, adding that Pico Rivera embraces high-quality transit and transit-oriented development. The cities of Commerce, Montebello and Pico Rivera have all expressed support for the Pico Rivera station location.
State and federal lawmakers have also weighed in. State Senator Bob Archuleta, who represents Pico Rivera, and Representative Linda Sanchez, who represents Whittier, both backed the proposal. Senator Adam Schiff recently submitted a letter of support for the proposal. Relocating the station, per Metro, would provide Pico Rivera residents access to rail service already passing through their community and would improve connections to jobs, businesses and other destinations.
Part of a Bigger Transit Push
The proposed station is part of a broader effort to improve transit access throughout southeast Los Angeles County, and Pico Rivera is pursuing state and federal funding to advance the project alongside other transit investments. The city is committed to the Metro E Line extension and the Rosemead-Lakewood Boulevard bus rapid transit line, projects that, as Urbanize LA has reported, the city is packaging together to position itself as a regional transportation hub. Metro lists 2035-2037 as the expected window for the initial E Line segment to Montebello, pending sufficient state and federal funding, with construction on the broader Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 2 project expected to start in 2029 under Measure M.
Planned pedestrian and bicycle improvements, along with other transit connections, are intended to make the future station more accessible to surrounding communities, and the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments supports those accessibility efforts. The preliminary engineering and environmental review work now funded by Metro will help determine project costs, feasibility and next steps, while efforts to secure additional funding for the project continue.
