Looking east toward Union Street, the new Courthouse Station will be located on the south side of C Street and have the same features as other stations such as next-arrival displays, shelters and information kiosks.

MTS hasn’t added a new Trolley station since 2005 when Grantville, San Diego State, Alvarado and 70th Street were added to the Green Line. That’s about to change. The new Courthouse Station is opening early next year between State and Union Streets on C Street, and will serve as the Orange Line’s terminus.

In the meantime, the Orange Line has moved the western terminal from Santa Fe Depot to America Plaza.

Why change the terminals twice in such a short period?

The big advantages to turning the Orange Line back at America Plaza are that it creates more consistency for our passengers and will improve service reliability,” said Wayne Terry, COO of MTS Rail. “Since any number of issues could cause trains to turn at America Plaza (including switch issues, late trains, train congestion due to special events, etc.), we were already stopping many trains short of Santa Fe Depot, which creates confusion for passengers intending to board the Orange Line at Santa Fe Depot.”

Turning at America Plaza will also create longer breaks at the terminal, allowing more trains to start their return schedule on time, reduce conflicts with the Green Line (saving time for thru passengers), and will alleviate some operator reliefs at 12th & Imperial, which will improve travel times for both the Orange Line and UC San Diego Blue Line.

Every minute will count with the anticipated train delays due to speed restrictions, stop orders and other challenges around the busy Courthouse Station construction site. A short-term endpoint of the Orange Line at America Plaza will provide immediate time cushion for our trains and passengers.

The Courthouse Station is needed to alleviate track congestion forecasted for the opening of the Mid-Coast extension of the UC San Diego Blue Line, but will start paying dividends right away for our passengers, as it will provide convenient Trolley access for the 44,500 jobs within a one-half mile walk.

“Ultimately it’s a win-win,” added Terry. “We need to get the Orange Line out of the way of the Blue Line before Mid-Coast begins operations and we provide even better access to jobs and other destinations for our customers.”

In the meantime, there will not be schedule changes for the temporary Orange Line terminal at America Plaza (other than eliminating the time between America Plaza and Santa Fe Depot). However, the entire schedule will instead be rewritten in January to synchronize with the Courthouse Station opening, said Brent Boyd, Manager of Service Quality for MTS Rail. “Trolley Operations and Planning staff are currently working on draft schedules. Goals of the working group include rationalizing running times, prioritizing the most important transfers, creating better downtown spacing between trains, and avoiding train timing conflicts.”

After the Trolley schedule is finalized, many of the 90-plus bus routes in the MTS system will need to be rescheduled to provide adequate bus-Trolley transfers.