The northern end of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit system was closed last weekend and will be unavailable again on another weekend in April as part of construction of a new train station in northern Petaluma.

On April 13 and 14, SMART service will be closed between the Sonoma County Airport and Cotati stations. Regular weekend service will operate further south on the system, between the Petaluma Downtown and Larkspur stations.

The closure this past weekend allowed construction crews to install a gauntlet track, enabling freight trains that are wider than passenger trains to go through the site of the new Petaluma North station, SMART officials said.

No extra bus shuttles will be running along the northern portion of the system that will be closed, according to SMART.

The new Petaluma North station is scheduled to open this December. More information about the closure plans can be found on SMART’s website.

Dan McMenamin is the managing editor at Bay City News, directing daily news coverage of the 12-county greater Bay Area. He has worked for BCN since 2008 and has been managing editor since 2014 after previously serving as BCN’s San Francisco bureau reporter. A UC Davis graduate, he came to BCN after working for a newspaper and nonprofit in the Davis area. He handles staffing, including coaching of our interns, day-to-day coverage decisions and management of the newswire.