Commuter Train System in Southern California

If the air quality in Southern California is to improve it will require that a mass transit system be developed and successfully operated. Other than a few buses and even fewer trains, mass transit in Southern California is non-existent.

Since I moved to Southern California over 20 years ago, I have continually heard politicians state that mass transit will not work in Southern California because of the residents’ love of the individual automobile.

One only needs to be at the San Juan Capistrano train station at 6:30 a.m. any weekday morning to see this is absolutely false. Literally hundreds of commuters board the train for Fullerton or Los Angeles. Perhaps the real reason politicians have avoided the development of mass transit in Southern California is the financial incentives afforded them by oil companies and automobile manufacturers.

I find it interesting that six additional lanes can be added to the San Diego Freeway, increasing air pollution, but insufficient funds are available for additional trains for commuters. Commuters pay to ride the train, thereby reducing any subsidies. I further understand that the San Diegan run from San Diego to Los Angeles is running at a profit for Caltrans, which should be an indication of individual support for more commuter trains.

I have been commuting every day on the San Diegan from San Juan Capistrano to Los Angeles since June of this year. I have enjoyed not driving in the severe traffic congestion on the freeways. However, I have observed that the system could be improved with some effort from Caltrans and Amtrak.

On many occasions, the train arrives late into Los Angeles due to the Santa Fe freight trains having priority over commuter service. It is imperative that the train operate on a strict schedule.

To entice more commuters to ride the train and get off the freeways, there need to be some improvements in service. I feel these improvements are not costly and significantly less than additional freeway lanes. It is apparent that additional commuter trains could be cost-effective. I do understand that the funds for additional freeway lanes may be restricted for that purpose, but I also realize that with a little bit of negotiating by the appropriate administrators or elected officials, these “restrictions” could have been modified to include other transportation enhancements.

I recommend: improved advertising of the commuter trains, a monthly pass for commuters, improved exit procedures at Union Station, giving commuter trains a higher priority than commercial trains to improve “on-time” performance and improving tracks, trains, signals and whatever else is needed to speed up train runs. It should be possible to have runs from San Juan to Los Angeles take less than one hour.

DAVID M. KANTHAK

San Clemente