Granite Construction has secured a $24 million contract to upgrade the Perris South Metrolink Station and Layover Facility in Riverside County, California, advancing a major effort to improve capacity and reliability on Southern California’s growing regional commuter rail network.
The Watsonville, California-based contractor was awarded the project to modernize the southern terminus of Metrolink’s State Route 91/Perris Valley Line, according to a Dec. 9 project announcement. The work is designed to address operational constraints at the end-of-the-line station while supporting increasing ridership demand east of Los Angeles.
Funding for the project comes from a mix of local and state sources, including California’s Measure A transportation sales tax and a $25 million grant from the state’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program. The investment reflects continued public-sector emphasis on transit infrastructure as a strategy to relieve highway congestion and improve regional mobility.
Opened in 2016, the 24-mile Perris Valley Line connects Perris to Downtown Riverside and onward to employment centers across the greater Los Angeles region. The corridor was built to ease congestion along Interstate 215 and provide an alternative for commuters in southwestern Riverside County, an area known for some of the longest daily commutes in Southern California.
Ridership on the line has continued to climb, increasing 22% year over year to an average of 2,098 weekday riders in 2024, placing it among the fastest-growing routes in Metrolink’s 547-mile system.
Currently, the Perris South station operates as a single-track terminus, limiting scheduling flexibility and creating service bottlenecks during peak periods. Granite’s scope of work will convert the station into a higher-capacity, more adaptable hub capable of supporting dual train operations and improved overnight storage.
Planned improvements include construction of a second passenger boarding platform and more than 1,100 feet of new track, allowing two trains to load and unload simultaneously and enabling continued operations if one train is out of service. The existing platform will be lengthened to accommodate eight-car Metrolink trains and upgraded with new canopies, electronic information displays and emergency communication systems.
The project also calls for a new at-grade pedestrian crossing equipped with active warning gates and flashing lights to provide safe access to the second platform. In addition, a fourth layover track and new switching infrastructure will expand overnight train storage capacity and improve overall operational flexibility.
For Granite, the project strengthens the company’s presence in Southern California’s rail and transit market, complementing its traditional focus on heavy civil and roadbuilding work. The contractor opened a new office in Ontario, California, last year and recently completed the $22 million Moreno Valley/March Field station expansion, located roughly 13 miles from Perris South.
“This project builds on our successful partnership with RCTC and Metrolink and leverages Granite’s core strengths in heavy civil construction and rail,” Bill Moore, Granite’s vice president of regional operations, said in the release.
Construction on the Perris South station upgrade is expected to begin in early 2026, with substantial completion anticipated in 2028.
Originally reported by Joe Bousquin in Construction Dive.
