Rail Study Says County System Needs to Grow Down the Line : Transit: Consultants say county should have $3 billion in extra commuter service and a 25-mile elevated system by 2010.

A new countywide rail plan concludes that Orange County’s 43% projected employment growth over the next two decades justifies spending more than $3 billion on additional commuter rail service on regular tracks and a 25-mile elevated rail system.

The county should add eight commuter trains and four stations on the existing Amtrak line while gearing up for the $1.1-billion elevated rail line between Irvine and Fullerton that could be ready by 2000, according to the study.

The draft countywide master rail plan, prepared for the Orange County Transportation Authority by the Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas consulting firm, also urges transportation officials to start rail service between Irvine and Riverside as soon as possible.

The plan, prepared at a cost of $590,000, also envisions a post-2010 expansion of the 25-mile elevated urban rail line into an 80-mile system with branches, including a jaunt north on the San Diego Freeway from Irvine to Long Beach.

When planned commuter trains on traditional tracks are added to the proposed elevated line, the result would be a nearly $4-billion rail network linking up to 80 stations within Orange County.

The OCTA board will discuss the study on Thursday but won’t act on it until a series of three public workshops have been held to solicit community reaction. During the comment period, the master plan will be used to formulate key policy questions that OCTA board members will have to address, such as which segments to build first, said OCTA Chief Executive Officer Stanley T. Oftelie.

Although the draft master plan echoes what OCTA staffers have been promoting, a key OCTA board member is already disputing the consultant’s recommendations.

“I have some serious questions about this plan,” said Dana W. Reed, the Corona del Mar attorney who sits as the public’s representative on the 11-member OCTA board. “I want to know why we would ever want to start an elevated guideway system 14 miles away from any connection with the Los Angeles Metro Rail system, which is a 150-mile system already under construction, until the year 2010,” Reed said. “That seems ludicrous to me.”

Reed said he would prefer switching the northern terminus from Fullerton to Norwalk, where commuters could switch to one of the Los Angeles Metro Rail lines.

Reed also blasted the consultants’ failure to identify an elevated urban rail station at or adjacent to John Wayne Airport, or at South Coast Plaza, with its huge shopping center and nearby theater complexes and office towers.

OCTA rail project manager Brian Pearson said that although a connection with Los Angeles’ Metro Rail system is important, the master plan’s recommendations reflect the reality that 90% of all commutesby county residents start and end in Orange County.

Meanwhile, Pearson said airport travelers traditionally pass up rail connections in favor of other transit modes and that Irvine may build its own monorail loop in the Irvine Business Center, with a link to the airport. Although a stop at Bristol Street and Anton Boulevard near South Coast Plaza is envisioned by 2000, Pearson said, there is resistance from South Coast Plaza developer Henry T. Segerstrom because he fears that his parking lots will be turned into park-and-ride facilities for commuters.

The three public workshops, all starting at 7 p.m., will be held Sept. 24 at the Garden Grove Community Center, Sept. 25 at the Brea City Council Chambers and Sept. 26 at the Saddleback Valley Board of Realtors, 25552 La Paz Road, Laguna Hills.