Metrolink faces 40% service cut as $30M deficit threatens OC rail

Metrolink is weighing a 40% cut to service — including the elimination of all weekend and evening trains — as the regional rail system confronts a $30 million budget deficit that could end regular service for more than 6 million annual riders.

The proposed rollback comes just months after an all-time weekend ridership record and a 23 percent service expansion, raising the prospect that Orange County could lose its primary regional rail link at the moment demand is growing.

Metrolink's proposed reductions would end all weekend and evening trains while cutting back rush-hour service, Voice of OC reported Monday. The $30 million deficit driving the proposal stems from pandemic-era shifts to remote work, which eroded the suburban commuter ridership the system was built to serve, combined with reduced funding from Metro and the Orange County Transportation Authority.

The proposal follows an aggressive expansion. In October 2024, Metrolink launched its "Reimagined" initiative, adding 32 weekday trains and growing total service by 23 percent. By March 2025, weekend boardings surpassed 120,000 — an all-time system record, according to Voice of OC.

Opinion contributors Mason Buck and Adriana Rizzo warned in Voice of OC that the cuts risk triggering what transit planners call a "death spiral" — a cycle in which service reductions drive away riders, forcing further cuts and accelerating system collapse. They pointed to Minneapolis Northstar commuter rail, which ended operations Jan. 4, 2026, following a comparable pattern of incremental service rollbacks.

Buck and Rizzo argued in Voice of OC that the Metrolink funding gap represents just 0.3 percent of OCTA's total budget, while the agency's overall spending rose $310.5 million from the prior year. OCTA is spending nearly $1 billion to widen the 5 Freeway, they wrote, at a time when California gas prices have topped $6 per gallon.

OCTA Board Chair Jamey Federico said during a recent board meeting that the agency subsidizes Metrolink riders at "30 dollars a piece," Voice of OC reported. Buck and Rizzo said the actual fiscal year 2025 subsidy was $16.84 per boarding. "Each Metrolink train can replace about 600 cars," they wrote in Voice of OC. "Metrolink serves long distance and cross county trips that OC Bus doesn't." The average Metrolink rider travels 39 miles per trip, compared to five miles for OC Bus passengers.

The OCTA board is next scheduled to meet May 26, with a second session set for June 8 — the two meetings where public comment on the proposed cuts is expected, according to Voice of OC.