Folsom light rail rolls out 15-minute train frequency. Riders say delays continue
Harmen Jod finds herself running late to her classes. A student at Sacramento City College and Folsom Lake College, Jod commutes using the light rail. Despite arriving to her nearby Historic Folsom station for the 8:15 a.m. train, Jod is still tardy because her ride is late.
The trip from Historic Folsom to Folsom Lake College is at least a 25-minute commute while it takes a minimum of an hour to make it to Sacramento City College.
Delays can take more than 15 minutes, and when Jod does miss her train, she said she waits at least half an hour.
Last year, Sacramento Regional Transit dedicated a project to address delays by reworking the schedule to have trains run every 15 minutes to improve transportation reliability. As a result, train lines running through Folsom were shut down for a year to make improvements by streamlining its Folsom line.
Now, Folsom’s light rail train runs on a single track after Sacramento’s Sunrise station, which means a train must start from Historical Folsom and turn around downtown before picking up its next set of passengers. Every fourth train does not return to Folsom, said Jessica Gonzalez, transit’s director of marketing, communications and public information. Trains run on a 15-minute schedule.
“Right now, this is going to be the schedule until we’re able to possibly come up with another alternative,” Gonzalez said. “But we really just wanted to be able to provide consistency for riders and let them know what the schedule is.”
But despite the extensive closure for construction, Gold Line riders from Folsom still face delays since services relaunched in January. Since then, there have been reported disruptions and traffic delays. For the first few weeks, riders were unsure if they were getting a 15 minute train or the standard 30 minutes as the transit agency tried to fix the schedule.
“We know that those riders were waiting a year for this, and obviously, we’re trying to make this service the best that it can. We are excited that it is still providing 15 minutes service three other times each hour,” Gonzalez said. “We wish it was every 15 minutes that hour, you know, but it’s still an improved service from what it was.”
Riders confused with train schedule
Paul Wells rides the train from Historic Folsom to Sacramento State. Originally from New Zealand, Wells visits Sacramento County for his studies and to see his daughter, who lives in Folsom.
When he arrived at the Historic Folsom station during his commute, Wells sees two signs about the new schedule change. One said that “most weekday trips” will run every 15 minutes from 5:59 a.m. to 7:29 p.m.
“The message there is quite confusing when it tells about the change in schedule because it says most days, weekday trips will run every 15 minutes,” Wells said. “But if you look at the schedule, that’s not true.”
It states that “to improve service reliability, trains scheduled to depart Historic Folsom on the :44 of each hour will no longer operate. Trains arriving at Sunrise Station on the :20 of each hour will now turn back instead of continuing to Folsom.”
Gonzalez recommends checking the website for train updates and delays, which are updated when issues arise.
To file a complaint about services, Sacramento Regional Transit recommends filling out a customer feed back survey, which can be found at https://www.sacrt.com/customerfeedback/. Gonzalez said customer service staff can help riders plan a trip and answer questions.
This story was originally published March 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct information about the Folsom train schedule and to specify that every fourth train does not turn around.
