Rail Proposal Calls for 4 More Stops in O.C.

Commuters could see train service between Los Angeles and 10 cities in Orange County every 20 minutes during rush hour under an ambitious new commuter rail plan presented Monday.

With money drawn largely from state rail bonds, transportation planners hope to buy six new locomotives, open new stations in Tustin, Mission Viejo, Orange and Buena Park, and launch the expanded rail service by 1993.

Such a plan would clear the way for easier rail commuting within the county, offering frequent service between cities along the rail corridor.

“This is a big piece of the transportation puzzle,” said Stanley T. Oftelie, executive director of the Orange County Transportation Commission. “The commuter rail network is the backbone of a balanced system.”

But money remains the No. 1 problem. Much of the rail-bond money earmarked for Orange County will go to other counties unless local officials can come up with matching funds. To do so, county transportation planners are banking on the passage of Measure M, the proposal for a half-cent transportation sales tax increase, on the Nov. 6 countywide ballot.

“There won’t be significant rail in Orange County without Measure M,” Oftelie said. If the measure does not pass, state rail bond money that would have been Orange County’s “would all go to Los Angeles and San Diego.”

Under the plan, prepared for the Orange County Transportation Commission by Fluor Daniel Inc. of Irvine, Orange County would add four new rail stops to the network that now includes San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Irvine, Santa Ana, Anaheim and Fullerton.

The stops to be added outside Orange County would be in Oceanside in San Diego County and Norwalk and Commerce in Los Angeles County. Use of those three stations assumes that cooperative agreements are reached with San Diego and Los Angeles counties’ transportation officials.

The new service would supplement the single round-trip train the Orange County Transportation Commission inaugurated in May that now carries up to 375 passengers daily. Eight Amtrak round trips between Los Angeles and San Diego also stop in Orange County.

The eight additional proposed commuter trains would allow for combined northbound and southbound stops at each station every 20 minutes during peak hours and every hour at midday.

Under one of several proposed timetables, for example, San Juan Capistrano residents would be able to board a northbound commuter train at any one of nine times: 5:29 a.m., 5:54 a.m., 6:14 a.m., 7:04 a.m., 10:14 a.m., 12:14 p.m., 2:14 p.m., 6:49 p.m. and 8:34 p.m.

That service would be in addition to the Amtrak trains that now stop there at 6 a.m., 6:40 a.m., 7:40 a.m., 11:11 a.m., 1:06 p.m., 4:09 p.m., 6:07 p.m., 8:07 p.m. and 10:05 p.m.

Such schedules, combined with plans for stops about 5 miles apart in some areas, would open up the possibility of commuting by train from South County’s burgeoning residential communities to jobs in many more places such as Tustin, Buena Park and Norwalk, where there is no rail service now.

The plans for added service come at a time when the Santa Ana Freeway is being snarled by a massive $1.6-billion widening project between Irvine and Los Angeles County.

Fares were not specifically projected, but they could approximate those of the existing commuter train run by the county Transportation Commission. The round-trip fare between San Juan Capistrano and Los Angeles, for example, is $17.50, or $12.25 with a monthly pass. The round-trip fare between San Juan Capistrano and Santa Ana is $5.30.

But county transportation officials conceded Monday that before commuters can begin buying tickets, more than $8.5 million in annual operating funds must be found to pay for the service.

Much of the $72.4 million in capital investment for rail cars and other equipment would come from two state rail bonds--Propositions 108 and 116--approved by voters in June. But the county would have to come up with matching funds to reap the windfall of Proposition 108, and such money is virtually nonexistent. Officials say matching money would be available only if Orange County voters approve Measure M.

Orange County officials were ecstatic when they got their first look at the rail plan during the Transportation Commission meeting Monday in Santa Ana.

In making their presentation, Fluor Daniel officials used a slide show to depict the likely appearances of the new stations and rail cars that could be part of the expanded rail network. The firm envisions double-deck passenger cars and simple partlycovered rail stops not unlike those along the Beach Blue Line light rail system running between Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Currently, about 4,600 people ride the trains daily between Los Angeles and San Diego. Fluor Daniel officials estimate that the eight additional round trips between Los Angeles and Oceanside would boost daily ridership to more than 8,200 passengers.

Officials of the engineering firm acknowledged, however, that the proposed service could not hope to recover more than 40% of its costs from fares.

Referring to those costs, Fluor Daniel representative Al Witzig said: “We feel that this is a fairly modest investment to make commuting easier. . . . I don’t think there’s a greater nightmare than trying to drive the Santa Ana Freeway.”

Eager to head off any criticism of public subsidies for such service, OCTC Chairman Dana W. Reed noted that the trains would help to ease the crush of cars on the Santa Ana Freeway each day.

“We are not generating trips,” said Reed, a Corona del Mar lawyer. “We are taking traffic off of the Santa Ana Freeway. The people who will be going (on the trains) will be going (to their destinations) anyway. To me that justifies a public subsidy.”

A final, more detailed report is scheduled to be presented to the commission next month, but Reed said a subcommittee would meet before then to discuss the proposal.

Reed also used the occasion to promote Measure M, saying that funds collected from the tax would be needed to pay for the new train service.

But it will take more than just new trains for the effort to succeed, officials said.

Reed and OCTC member Clarice A. Blamer, a Brea councilwoman, emphasized the need for “feeder” buses and trams to take passengers to and from the rail stations. Reed cited as an example the 25-cent shuttle-bus service that ferries rail passengers between Union Station in Los Angeles and major office complexes in the downtown area.

“They’re absolutely essential,” Fluor’s Witzig agreed.

Officials said, however, that such service would probably have to be provided by the individual cities along the 87-mile route.

Commuter Rail A new commuter rail plan proposed for Orange County envisions 14 stops from Oceanside to Los Angeles utilizing existing Amtrak stops, with six new passenger platforms in Mission Viejo or Laguna Niguel, Tustin or North Irvine, Orange, Buena Park, Norwalk and Commerce, all to be built at a combined cost of about $6 million. COMMERCE --Along existing tracks at East 26th Street. NORWALK --City maintenance yard at near intersection of existing tracks and Imperial Highway. BUENA PARK Two sites are under review: --North of Dale Street between Artesia and Malvern avenues, east of existing tracks. --South of Beach Boulevard between existing tracks and Cascade Way. ORANGE --Existing but unused, former Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe railway depot on Chapman Avenue beteween Batavia and Glassell streets. TUSTIN/NORTH IRVINE Four sites are under review: --North of Jamboree Road, east of Edinger Avenue, across from the Tustin Marine Corps Helicopter Station. --South of Jamboree Road, east of Irvine Center Drive, north of Harvard Avenue, west of existing tracks. --East of existing tracks between Harvard and Jamboree. --Southwest corner where Harvard crosses existing tracks. MISSION VIEJO/LAGUNA NIGUEL Four sites are under review: --South of Crown Valley Parkway and Cabot Road, west of the San Diego Freeway. --North of Crown Valley Parkway near intersection of Falls and Cabot Roads, west of the San Diego Freeway. --La Paz Road, across from Mission Viejo High School. --South of Alician Parkway, east of existing railroad track, behind Gateway Shopping Center. Source: Orange County Transportation Commission