4 Cities Bid for Proposed Commuter Train Stations

The cities of Commerce, Norwalk, Pico Rivera and Santa Fe Springs are jockeying for commuter train stations that are proposed in a draft report by the Los Angeles-San Diego State Rail Corridor Study Group.

The draft, which will be completed in June and presented to the Legislature, proposes building three new stations between downtown Los Angeles and Fullerton. Currently there are no rail passenger stops along that route.

One of the proposed stations would be in East Los Angeles, according to Craig Johnson, a rail development officer for the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and a member of the study group. The other two stops are up for grabs, and Commerce, Norwalk, Pico Rivera and Santa Fe Springs have expressed interest. Planners for Norwalk and Santa Fe Springs are considering putting a station on their mutual border and splitting the cost 50-50.

Four New Commuter Trains Proposed

Two of the proposed stations would be “commuter” stops, designed to serve four new commuter trains a day--two in the morning and two at night--between San Clemente and downtown Los Angeles. No other trains would stop at these two stations.

The third would be an Amtrak station and would handle both the commuter trains and regularly scheduled Amtrak passenger trains.

The draft study also proposes four commuter trains a day between Oceanside and San Diego, Johnson said, as well as three new stations for Orange County.

The 10-member group responsible for the study is composed of representatives of Caltrans, transportation commissions from Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, Amtrak, the state Assembly and Senate, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Co. and the California Labor Federation.

Study Is in Response to Legislation

The study was undertaken in response to state legislation aimed at upgrading existing Amtrak rail service. The study group was charged with finding ways to reduce train running times, make service more reliable and increase public access to the Amtrak system through new stations.

But the proposals are tied to some big dollar signs. Although cities in Southeast Los Angeles County seem willing to pay at least some of the money to build local stations, nobody has volunteered to come up with the enormous sums necessary to establish and operate a new train service.

The total package, the study says, would cost $257 million. The draft report recommends that $118 million come from the state, $50 million from local governments, $84 million from Amtrak and $5 million from the Santa Fe Railway, which shares tracks with Amtrak trains from Vernon to Fullerton.

The report proposes that Amtrak get its share of the money from congressional appropriations, which have financed similar Amtrak improvements elsewhere in the country. Although Amtrak has been a participant in the study, agency spokesman Clifford Black said Amtrak will have no comment on the proposals until the study is made public in June.

Lee Deter, chief of the division of mass transportation for Caltrans, said he could not predict how the Legislature would react to a request for money. “Only time will tell,” he said. “Times are tough right now in Sacramento.”

State Subsidizes Amtrak Service

Johnson said the study was undertaken precisely because the state recognizes that Amtrak alone lacks the funds to upgrade its facilities. Since 1976, the state has subsidized three round-trip Amtrak trains a day between Los Angeles and San Diego at a cost of $27.5 million so far.

At this point, Johnson said, none of the cities in the Southeast area has an edge in obtaining the stations. There are engineering concerns with the Commerce and Pico Rivera proposals, and the Norwalk-Santa Fe Springs site would require construction of an additional track to permit trains to pass each other.

“These will all be factors in the decision,” he said, “as will how much cities are willing to contribute, how much parking is available and how accessible the location is to the users.”

It is not entirely clear who would ultimately make the decision on where stations would be placed, since it is still unclear where funding would come from or what governing board would oversee the project.

Commerce Wants a Transit Center

Jim McIntyre, assistant planner for Commerce, said a commuter station would fit with the city’s desire for a transit center at the intersection of Garfield Avenue and the Santa Ana Freeway.

“When you look at Commerce, logically it’s the best place,” he said. “No new construction is necessary, except for the station. We have railroads with separated grade crossings, so after leaving the station, trains could get moving fast, with no interruptions.

“All the other necessary things are in: We have gang tracks for the railroad, RTD buses going along Garfield, direct freeway access with off-ramps already in and space for 150 cars in a park-and-ride (parking lot).”

In addition, McIntyre said, Commerce’s nighttime population of 11,000 and daytime population of 95,000 provide a large base of commuters to use the station.

“What we want is a commuter stop, not an Amtrak station,” said Ray Ramirez, assistant director of community development and economic development coordinator for Commerce.

Pico Rivera had a railroad station years ago, City Manager Dennis Courtemarche said, and a new station could be constructed at the same location, on Serapis Avenue north of Slauson Avenue.

Station Linked to Growth

Courtemarche said a station would enhance his city’s redevelopment efforts. “There (is) a direct relationship between a station being built and industrial and business growth around it,” he said.

He estimated the cost to the city at between $5 million and $10 million.

On May 11, the Norwalk Planning Commission will recommend to the City Council that the city pursue one of the stations, according to Ken Montgomery, director of public works.

The first site the planners considered is at the north end of Shoemaker Avenue, next to Zimmerman Park and near the border with Santa Fe Springs, he said. However, if the council approves the station idea and commissions a feasibility study, other sites probably would be considered. “At this point, we’re exploring what our options are,” Montgomery said. “It is all in a preliminary stage.

“We’d be looking at a real low budget. We envision a simple platform and shelter,” Montgomery said. “The budget, without constructing a siding track, would be somewhere around a half a million to $1 million. My professional opinion is that this (station) is valuable. It will give the city an alternate means of transportation. With the freeways getting more and more crowded--sometimes immovable--it would benefit the community to offer alternative transportation.”

Santa Fe Springs may be interested in splitting the cost of a station with Norwalk if it is on the border of the two cities, according to Redevelopment Director Richard Weaver. “We left it up to Norwalk to determine what kind of station to have. If the price tag isn’t too high, we’ll go along with it and recommend it to our City Council,” he said.

The Norwalk proposal on Shoemaker Avenue would require developing bus service from the Santa Fe Springs side of the station, reconstructing Shoemaker Avenue from Imperial Highway to the station site, and constructing a passing rail line at the station.

Santa Fe Railway is on record as being opposed to any new stations along the tracks between Los Angeles and Fullerton. Santa Fe freight trains share these tracks with Amtrak’s passenger trains.

Santa Fe spokesman Tom Buckley said that figuring a three- to five-minute stop in that stretch for each of Amtrak’s current 14 trains a day between Los Angeles and San Diego would add up to more than one hour a day. This would cause scheduling conflicts for other trains, he said, particularly trains coming from the Midwest. Santa Fe runs between 20 and 30 freight trains a day on the line between its Vernon yard and Fullerton, where it switches to a separate track to San Diego.

“Trains normally run through the Norwalk area at high speed,” he said. “This would definitely create interference with our freight operations. (The commission) is asking for input, and we have to raise our concern in the matter.”