COUNTYWIDE : Rail Plan Will Be Topic at 3 Meetings

The county’s plan for new commuter trains on the Amtrak line and an elevated urban rail system linked to Los Angeles’ Metro Rail will be discussed at three public meetings next week.

The Orange County Transportation Authority meetings, designed to solicit public opinion, will be attended by experts who helped draft the multibillion-dollar plan. The plan would be partially financed with revenue from Measure M, the half-cent sales tax for traffic improvements approved by county voters last year.

The plan provides for construction of a 25-mile elevated monorail or other type of urban rail system between Irvine and Fullerton, plus eight additional commuter trains on the Amtrak line between Oceanside and Los Angeles, with four new stations along the route in Orange County.

But some OCTA board members want the elevated urban line to connect with the Los Angeles Metro Rail Green Line at its Norwalk terminus. The Green Line is being built on the median of the Century Freeway, between the San Diego Freeway near Los Angeles International Airport and the San Gabriel Freeway.

The first public meeting on the plan is scheduled at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Room B at the Garden Grove Community Center, 11300 Stanford Avenue.

The second meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Sept. 25 in the City Council chambers at the Brea Civic and Cultural Center, 1 Civic Center Circle, Brea.

The third meeting will start at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Saddleback Valley Board of Realtors offices at 25552 La Paz Road, Laguna Hills.

For additional information, call the OCTA at (714) 571-5800, Ext. 5804.

Results of the public meetings will be presented either at the Oct. 28 OCTA board meeting or at a later date, officials said.