Irvine Wins Amtrak Stops; Way Cleared for Transit Center

Santa Fe Railroad has agreed to allow two Amtrak train stops a day in Irvine, culminating five years of efforts by the city to attract rail service and clearing the way for construction of a new $13.9-million transportation center.

City officials announced Monday that Santa Fe Railroad has approved the additional stops, despite earlier concerns that they would interfere with freight trains and mean a move toward commuter service, which the railroad has historically sought to avoid on the Los Angeles-to-San Diego route.

“The idea of having passenger trains stop in Irvine is a very historic occasion,” said Irvine Councilwoman Barbara Wiener, dusting off a 5-year-old button that proclaimed “Irvine Welcomes Amtrak.” Irvine printed 350 celebratory buttons when city officials launched their most recent campaign in 1980.

City officials said they hope the new service, including a northbound morning train and a southbound evening train, can begin late next year.

Half Mile From Interchange

The city can now proceed with its long-planned transportation center, a 7,000-square-foot headquarters for rail service, intercity and interstate buses and van pools.

The proposed site of the center is about half a mile north of the interchange of the Santa Ana and San Diego freeways, in the heart of a rapidly developing industrial, commercial and technological core that eventually will employ more than 80,000 people. It is designed to help relieve congestion on nearby freeways and highways that otherwise could become unbearable, Wiener said.

While the new train stops will not serve peak-hour commuter traffic, they will provide service for some commuters, for Orange County business people who need to travel to Los Angeles for the day, and for personal travelers, Wiener said. The morning train will leave Irvine at 8:10 a.m. and arrive in Los Angeles at 9:25; it will leave Los Angeles at 4:45 p.m. and stop at Irvine at 5:45 p.m.

While no current ridership projections are available, a 1981 study by the city showed that multi-train service to Irvine could boost ridership on the San Diegan line by as much as 25%. Total Irvine passengers--again assuming more trains than the two projected for the near future--were forecast to reach as many as 1,350 a day by 1995.

Only Remaining Hurdle

After approval from the state Department of Transportation and Amtrak, the only remaining hurdle was Santa Fe Railroad, which owns the tracks.

Santa Fe Vice President Robert Welk said the approval, because it applies only to trains that run during off-peak hours, does not mean the railroad is moving away from its historic policy against commuter traffic on Amtrak’s Los Angeles-to-San Diego line, chartered as an intercity rail service.

However, under legislation recently sent to the governor, Santa Fe officials expect to participate in a study group that will re-evaluate service along the rail corridor over the long-term, and that could renew consideration of commuter service, Welk said.

“We just felt that perhaps the time had come to look at this thing not just in the near-term, but maybe we ought to know where we’re going to be several years down the line. What are we going to need to do?” Welk said.

Already, Amtrak’s 14 San Diegan trains a day--seven in each direction--stop at Fullerton, Anaheim, Santa Ana, San Juan Capistrano, Oceanside and Del Mar, far more stops than are found on most other routes of similar length.

“I don’t think that Santa Fe views this any longer as a major concern for their freight operations, and we are hoping that in the long term, they will consider it a real opportunity,” Wiener said.

To Build New Siding

To win the new stops, Irvine officials had to agree to build $1 million worth of new siding at the train station to prevent delays to other passenger and freight trains during the four- to five-minute Irvine stops. The city has applied for federal mass-transit funds to build the new siding.

Funding for the $13.9-million transportation center is already in place, through a $2.3-million state grant and an $11-million land donation from the Irvine Co. The center is scheduled for completion in October, 1987, though city officials said they could begin train service within a little more than a year once the siding, a platform and a parking lot are constructed.

“Our commitment to seeing the center built is evidenced by our donation of land for the project, and we are as pleased as anyone that the long-awaited center can now move ahead,” Irvine Co. representative Richard G. Sim said in a statement. Sim is president of the Irvine Industrial, Research and Development Co., the arm of the Irvine Co. that is developing industrial, high-tech and biomedical complexes in the area around the proposed transportation center.

Irvine last had passenger train service in 1947.