Study to Look at Using Canyon Rail Line : Trains Seen as a Way of Easing Congestion on Riverside Freeway

The transportation commissions in Orange and Riverside counties are planning a joint study of usingcommuter trains on a rail line next to the Riverside Freeway as a way of relieving traffic in Santa Ana Canyon.

Clarice A. Blamer, chairwoman of the Orange County Transportation Commission, Monday requested that staff members prepare a work plan during the next two weeks for the $25,000 study.

“I was out driving and noticed the tracks along the same right of way,” Blamer said. “I used to ride on those tracks years ago when I would take the train between the East and West coasts, and I thought, is there any passenger service now? Apparently there isn’t.”

There is daily Amtrak service on the line with stops in Fullerton and San Bernardino, but not anywhere in Riverside County, which is the source of most commuters on the Riverside Freeway.

Blamer proposed the study at Monday’s regular OCTC meeting in Santa Ana. She said she was encouraged by the success of Amtrak service between Los Angeles and San Diego, which also serves Fullerton, Santa Ana, Irvine, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente.

Proposal for Study

However, Blamer said, she doesn’t yet know who would operate commuter trains between Riverside and Orange counties.

Stan Oftelie, the commission’s executive director, said he has already received a proposal for the study from transportation consultant Carl H. Schiermeyer, formerly of American High Speed Rail Corp., which in 1981 developed the ill-fated proposal for a “bullet train” between Los Angeles International Airport and San Diego.

A joint California-Nevada commission was established recently to study the feasibility of a high-speed train between Las Vegas and Southern California, possibly with a station near the Anaheim Convention Center.

Anaheim City Councilman Irv Pickler, who also serves on the OCTC, is seeking appointment to the bistate commission. Pickler said Monday that the Santa Fe Railroad’s right of way adjacent to the Riverside Freeway is also being considered by Las Vegas “super train” advocates.