Passenger Rail Service Returning to Orange

After a 21-year-absence, passenger rail service returns to the Orange train depot today.

The Orange County Transportation Authority’s periwinkle-and-white Metrolink commuter train will depart for Los Angeles at 6:31 a.m., with round-trip tickets at $15. The train returns at 6:30 p.m.

Anyone bringing canned food for the Salvation Army can ride round-trip for free today, OCTA spokesman John Standeford said.

Officials will celebrate the opening of the new rail platform about 6:15 p.m., Standeford said, just before the evening train arrives from Los Angeles.

Several hundred people are expected to attend the evening festivities, which will include presentations by OCTA board members William G. Steiner and Gaddi H. Vasquez, who also serve on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Since the service began in 1990, OCTA has run one round-trip train from San Juan Capistrano to downtown Los Angeles, with stops limited to Santa Ana, Anaheim, Fullerton and Irvine.

Orange is the first new stop to be added. Stations in Laguna Niguel, Tustin and Buena Park are on the drawing board.

In May, 1994, service will expand to three daily round-trip trains as part of the five-county Metrolink system, which is independent of Amtrak’s operations.

Riverside service will be added in 1995.

Currently, nine Amtrak trains make daily round-trips between San Diego and Los Angeles, with stops in San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Irvine, Santa Ana and Fullerton.

The Amtrak trains won’t stop in Orange because Congress has prohibited Amtrak from offering local commuter-type service with stops only a few miles apart.

Initially, about 100 patrons a day are expected to board the OCTA train at Orange. At first, tickets will be sold on board. In a few months, however, automatic ticket-dispensing machines will be installed on the canopied rail platform.