OCTC Approves $85-Million Rail Expansion Plan

Commuter trains may soon be pulling out of the station every 25 to 30 minutes during morning and evening rush hours under an ambitious, $85-million plan approved Monday by transportation planners.

The Orange County Transportation Commission voted 6 to 0 to add eight commuter rail round trips between Oceanside and Los Angeles to the one currently offered, and to open four new stations in the county. Amtrak also operates eight round trips between Los Angeles and San Diego, with a ninth to be added next year. The commission’s action Monday brings to 18 the number of round trips that will be running through Orange County by 1993.

The county’s commuter rail service is one piece of what is expected to be a regional network. When completed, the network will allow passengers to ride for hundreds of miles over Southern California, using transfers to travel between places such as Riverside and Irvine, San Bernardino and Pasadena, Fullerton and Long Beach.

“I’m ecstatic,” Commission Chairman Dana W. Reed said after the vote Monday. “This is absolute proof that we’re going to do it.”

To get the program going, the commission will invest $13.2 million in six new locomotives, $31.2 million in 24 rail coaches, $27.6 million in double-tracking the rail line between Fullerton and Mission Viejo, and $5 million in new stations. The money is expected to come from state rail bond measures and from Measure M, the half-cent county sales tax that takes effect April 1.

The panel voted Monday to borrow $100 million against future revenue from Measure M to expedite the commuter rail program and four other traffic improvement projects. Those projects are car-pool lanes on the Orange Freeway; design work for remodeling the El Toro “Y”; improvements to Beach Boulevard, and purchase of right of way for future rail transit.

Under the OCTC rail plan, first unveiled in September, train service would be most frequent for northbound trains in the morning and southbound trains in the evening. For example, morning trains bound for Los Angeles would stop in Santa Ana at 6:03, 6:28, 6:48, 7:02, 7:38, 8:02 and 10:48. During the evening rush hour, southbound trains would leave Los Angeles’ Union Station at 5:20, 5:45, 6:20, 6:45 and 8:30.

New stations are envisioned for Buena Park, Orange, northern Irvine or Tustin and either Mission Viejo or Laguna Niguel. Amtrak trains will not stop at these stations.

Before the vote Monday, OCTC Executive Director Stanley T. Oftelie was asked to reassure the panel that funds would be found to run the trains, because fares will not cover the operating costs.

Oftelie said he is formulating a plan to use interest earned on existing transportation funds to set up a rail service endowment. Although that may take money away from some street improvement projects, Reed said it would be a “good trade-off.”

“Emphasis in Southern California on mass transit is going up, not down,” Reed said.

If Oftelie is successful in creating a rail service endowment fund, Orange County would leap ahead of other counties in the heated competition for state rail bond money because only counties that have identified sources of operating funds can even apply for the bond proceeds.

Officials cautioned, however, that the planned spending spree for rail improvements will raise ridership only gradually and will not solve traffic problems overnight.

An OCTC staff report estimates that total daily rail ridership could total 10,300 boardings per day by 1995, of which between 3,800 and 5,700 would be generated by the OCTC’s planned expansion of commuter service and most of the rest by Amtrak.

OCTC officials acknowledged, however, that the ridership projections could be too optimistic. They said they are hoping for a 40% recovery of costs from fare box revenues but that this may not be possible until there is a regional network of commuter trains linking neighboring counties.

OCTC is in the train business in part because Amtrak is forbidden by Congress to offer intracounty service with frequent stops. However, Amtrak is permitted to operate the commuter service for the county.

The decision to borrow against future Measure M proceeds came after weeks of intense lobbying by bond underwriters seeking OCTC’s business. One OCTC official said the commission had never been visited by “so many $1,000 suits.”

In the end, Kidder Peabody & Co. was named the senior managing underwriter, with Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs providing backup. Eleven firms bid on the contract

Kidder Peabody donated $5,000 to the Measure M campaign. Both the firm and OCTC officials said the contribution played no role in the selection process. Goldman Sachs also donated $5,000 to the campaign.

In 1988, according to James Martling, a senior vice president at Kidder Peabody in San Francisco, Kidder Peabody underwrote a $50-million bond issue for Alameda County after voters there approved a sales tax for transportation projects. The firm handled a $200-million offering for Santa Clara County under similar circumstances in 1986, he said.

COMMUTER RAIL PLAN

The Orange County Transportation Commission approved a plan to greatly expand commuter rail service between Los Angeles and Oceanside. In addition to adding eight round trips to the schedule, the plan calls for building four new stations in Orange County and two in Los Angeles County. The new Orange County stations would be in Buena Park, Orange, Tustin or north Irvine, and Mission Viejo or Laguna Niguel. Los Angeles County would pay for new stations in Commerce and Norwalk.

New Stations

1. Commerce

* Along existing tracks at East 26th Street.

2. Norwalk

City maintenance yard intersection of existing tracks and Imperial Highway.

3. 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.

4. Orange

* Existing but unused former Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe railway depot on Chapman Avenue between Batavia and Glassell streets.

5. Tustin/North Irvine

Four sites are under review:

* North of Jamboree Road and east of Edinger Avenue, across from the Tustin Marine Corps Helicopter Station.

* South of Jamboree Road and east of Irvine Center Drive, north of Harvard Avenue and west of existing tracks.

* East of existing tracks between Harvard and Jamboree.

* Southwest corner where Harvard crosses existing tracks.

6. Mission Viejo/Laguna Niguel

Four sites are under review:

* South of Crown Valley Parkway and Cabot Road, west of Interstate 5.

* North of Crown Valley Parkway near intersection of Falls and Cabot roads, west of Interstate 5.

* La Paz Road across from Mission Viejo High School.

* South of Alicia Parkway and east of existing railroad track, behind Gateway Shopping Center.

Source: Orange County Transportation Commission