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Rail Stop at Irvine

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Amtrak should do more than survive in 1985. It should grow. And one good place to do that is along its second most popular rail route in the nation --the run from San Diego to Los Angeles via Orange County.

Irvine, which has a thriving industrial center to go along with its many commuting residents, wants to build a new rail station and track siding and have Amtrak add Irvine as one of the Orange County stops along the route between San Diego and Los Angeles.

The city says its studies show that a new stop along the south border of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station would serve the growing labor pool in the East Irvine Industrial Complex and proposed high-tech and biomedical office projects, and would boost ridership along the San Diegan’s 133-mile rail route by 25%.

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The new railroad siding would allow trains to stop at Irvine without delaying other train traffic along the route. Irvine already has nearly $14 million in both land and money committed to the new train station. And it has the support of the Orange County Transportation Commission, which has voted funds to help construct the siding.

But the Santa Fe Railroad, which owns the track on which Amtrak runs the trains, still opposes the stop. That’s nothing new, considering that Amtrak was created at the insistence of privately owned railroads that no longer wanted any part of passenger service.

The line has one of the best fare-to-cost ratios in the nation; more than 75% of its operating costs are paid by its passengers. More passengers want to get on the train. It should stop for them.

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