Rail Experiment in Florida Is Sought for Orange County

Somewhat embarrassed that they didn’t think of it first, Orange County transportation officials said Monday that they will try to copy a Florida experiment in which train service is being used to lure commuters off a freeway during major reconstruction.

“The situation is so similar to the widening of I-5 it’s uncanny,” Orange County Transportation Commission member Dana Reed said Monday.

During Monday’s commission meeting, Reed pulled out a copy of a newspaper story about the Florida project and asked why the same thing couldn’t work here. A combination of federal and state money is being used to expand rail service in south Florida while Interstate 95 is being widened from six to 12 lanes.

OCTC officials said they would work with James McConnell, the commission’s Washington lobbyist, to see what can be done to obtain federal funds for a similar expansion of service in Orange County.

Trains would be used here to attract motorists currently using Interstate 5 from Los Angeles to San Diego during a massive, $1-billion widening project that is scheduled to begin Feb. 1. The project is scheduled in stages, the first involving the I-5 segment between the juncture with the San Diego Freeway in Irvine and the interchange with the Garden Grove and Orange freeways in Santa Ana.

After Monday’s OCTC meeting, Reed said officials at the California Department of Transportation have indicated that the state may be able to transfer to Orange County some almost-new passenger coaches that were purchased for a Bay Area commuter rail line but are not all in use. Reed said about 26 of the 76 coaches owned by the state may be available.

“I’m absolutely convinced that they would fill up a week after any train service started here,” Reed said.

However, no money is available to launch such service, which would be in addition to existing Amtrak trains between Los Angeles and San Diego that make several Orange County stops.

Florida commuters on Monday began using a commuter rail line that extends from Miami to West Palm Beach, parallel to Interstate 95 in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

The 67.7-mile line is part of a federal project designed to see if motorists will turn to trains during major highway construction.

The state purchased the track and the right of way, and the federal government is paying 90% of the cost of the locomotives and passenger coaches.

The Florida project was authorized in the same 1987 federal legislation in which Congress named Orange County as a site for a demonstration toll road project, which is already under way in the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor.

But Stan Oftelie, OCTC executive director, admitted Monday that he never saw the Florida project when he was combing through the federal legislation.

“My attention was focused on toll roads, I guess,” Oftelie said.

He cautioned that the federal government is unlikely to finance another commuter line without waiting to see the Florida results.