House Panel OKs $4 Million for O.C. Rail

A proposed Orange County urban rail system won an early approval Thursday from a key House committee that recommended including $4 million for the project in the upcoming federal budget.

The Orange County system, envisioned as 28-mile line between Fullerton and South County, was among more than 50 rail projects nationwide included in a $13.1-billion spending bill approved by the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee. The project would entail a separate line from the existing major rail tracks and would connect such points as Disneyland, the Santa Ana Civic Center and the South Coast Metro area.

“It’s the first federal authorization for spending money on the project . . . which is still in the conceptual engineering stage,” said John Standiford, a spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority.

Advocates for the proposed rail system through Fullerton, Anaheim, Orange, Santa Ana and Irvine point to future growth in those cities and the successes of similar systems in Portland, Ore., and San Diego. But critics say the cost--which could reach $1.8 billion--outweighs the benefits.

OCTA’s board of directors is expected to make a final vote in late 1999 on whether to build the urban rail system or at least a portion of it.

Engineers are now plotting potential paths and stations for the rail line, which in nascent proposals terminates at the southern edge of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

So far, the OCTA board of directors has approved only studies of the rail project, but members have been enthusiastic about the prospect of using commuter trains to serve residents and workers in the county’s growing central corridor.

The vote Thursday in Washington was “a big deal” because the project survived heated competition with scores of other rail proposals vying for inclusion, according to Sarah L. Catz, chairwoman of the OCTA board. “We’re incredibly lucky,” she said.

County transportation leaders will push for the $4-million commitment for the project to grow as the major spending bill continues through the committee process and floor votes, Catz said.

The spending bill approved Thursday also included $31 million next year for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Los Angeles to relieve overcrowding on its bus system and $62 million to complete subway construction to the San Fernando Valley.

The House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, at the behest of Latino congressional members, also recommended that $8 million be spent developing mass-transit improvements on the Eastside and Mid-City now that subway extensions to those transit-dependent neighborhoods have been put off.