When Metrolink service first began in 1992, trains terminated at the
Santa Clarita station, but with plans to extend the line northeast to the
Antelope Valley. Those plans were expedited by almost 10 years when the 1994
Northridge earthquake caused the collapse of the freeway connector of
State Route 14 onto
Interstate 5 at the
Newhall Pass interchange. With funding from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Metrolink constructed an emergency extension of the line along existing rails to Lancaster to help relieve the traffic
bottleneck. The
U.S. Navy Seabees construction battalion and crews from the L.A. County Public Works Department were able to construct the stations along the line in just a few days, compared to the normal three to six months. Emergency stations in Lancaster and Palmdale were built in just three days, and Metrolink started operating trains one week after the earthquake struck. After the earthquake, the existing Santa Clarita station had become crowded as ridership surged. Metrolink built the Via Princessa station to relieve some of that crowding. The station, like the other emergency stations, offered few amenities on opening day. There was only an asphalt platform, furnished with a few bus stop-style shelters, and a 400 space paved parking lot. While most of the other emergency stations have since been replaced with permanent stations, the Via Princessa station remains remarkably similar to this day. The station still uses the same asphalt platform built after the earthquake. In the months following the earthquake, permanent shelters were added to the station (although the bus stop-style shelters remained), along with a covered area to purchase tickets from ticket vending machines and a small security guard office. In October 2008, a permanent building containing public restrooms and an office for station security officers was constructed in the station parking lot. == Service ==