Transit Center Is Back on Track

On paper, Anaheim’s $250-million transportation center is a palace for mobility: Cavernous interlocking stations with arching roofs of glass serving tens of thousands of people a day.

Metrolink, Amtrak, a maglev train to Las Vegas, the state’s high-speed rail project, and the county’s CenterLine system are shown converging as if all tracks lead to Anaheim. Designed like a giant layer cake, the station will allow trains to come and go from tiers.

Outside are transit ways and bus bays, bicycle racks, ample parking and easy access to the Orange and Santa Ana freeways. Edison International Field, the Arrowhead Pond and new office buildings -- so-called transit-oriented development -- surround the complex, dubbed the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center. Disneyland is just a few shuttle stops away.

Shelved for almost a decade as too much, too soon, the center is dormant no longer. Anaheim has resumed planning Orange County’s version of New York’s Grand Central Station. Along with Ontario International Airport and Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, the Anaheim transit hub is envisioned as one of three fully integrated hubs connecting the sprawling Southland metropolis.

Although hurdles remain, city leaders believe a regional transit center will be necessary to Orange County’s tourist industry, job market and population growth. Work must proceed today to accommodate transit demands 10 to 20 years from now, officials say. “We want and need better access to grow and prosper economically, not just in Anaheim, but across the region,” said Gary Johnson, the city’s director of public works.

Planners want to build the complex in a notch of land formed by the Orange Freeway and the Santa Ana River. The site lies mostly on city and county property immediately northeast of Edison Field and just south of Katella Avenue.

City officials say the site will be designed to accommodate five types of rail lines and a variety of buses services -- from shuttles to express routes -- on specially designed transit ways.

Motorists would be able to reach the transit center from the Orange and Santa Ana freeways. Parking would be available in a large structure, in nearby lots and at Edison Field.

“It’s a great idea to put the various modes of transportation in one location,” said Kristi Kimball of the Surface Transportation Policy Foundation, a Washington think tank. “Intermodalism is far more convenient for travelers.”

High-density office, residential and commercial buildings, restaurants, cinemas, clubs and shops would be encouraged around it. Amenities are available near major train stations around the country, often transforming them into focal points for travelers and people in surrounding communities.

“Stations can be huge attractions,” said Sarah L. Catz, director of the Center for Urban Infrastructure at UC Irvine’s Institute for Transportation Studies. “I have seen what they’ve done to Union Station in Washington, D.C., and Grand Central Station in New York. If ARTIC is created, it could be a wonderful cultural center for Orange County.”

Anaheim’s transit hub has a long way to go from renderings to reality. The station depends on rail systems that have yet to be approved or face serious economic hurdles.

Amtrak, the national passenger service, is struggling financially, although it recently received a transfusion of federal funds to keep it going.

Maglev, or magnetically levitated trains, can go 200 to 300 mph but are expensive and unproven commercially. Japan and Germany have experimented with them for decades but have not put any into service.

City officials would like Anaheim to be a terminus for the proposed California-Nevada Super Speed Train, a $4-billion maglev route that would link the city with Ontario International Airport and Las Vegas.

The so-called “Gambler’s Special” was proposed almost 20 years ago. The project’s commission is now seeking federal funds for environmental studies. If everything falls into place, the system might be built by 2008.

Rail enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting the world’s first commercial application of maglev technology. The Chinese government is building a $2-billion, 18-mile line from Shanghai’s main business district to a new international airport.

Uncertainty also surrounds the $25-billion California High Speed Rail Project, the state’s version of the bullet train. In November 2004, voters will be asked to approve a $9-billion segment from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Even if that first leg is approved, Anaheim might have to wait years to be included in subsequent phases of the project. Overall plans call for high-speed rail links from San Diego to San Francisco and Sacramento.

“If they can pull it off, it would be a fantastic, world-class center,” said David Elbaum, director of strategic planning for the Orange County Transportation Authority. “But in our thinking, you clearly will need CenterLine, high-speed rail service and Metrolink to make it work.”

Trouble is, except for a mention of CenterLine in the plans for the transit center, the county’s proposed light rail line is all but dead in Anaheim.

Several years ago city officials negotiated with OCTA over a route to Anaheim, but those talks failed. Then, the Orange City Council, concerned about the proposed route, voted against light rail.

Since then OCTA has scaled back the initial leg of the project to 11 miles from 30 miles. As it now stands, the line would go from UC Irvine to Santa Ana’s transportation center.

“There is a lot of uncertainty,” said Hasan Ikhrata, director of planning and policy for the Southern California Assn. of Governments, which supports Anaheim’s plan. “But if we are serious about having alternatives to motor vehicles, this has to happen.”

If high-speed rail is approved and the Anaheim transit hub is built, Ikhrata predicted the combination would provide substantial incentives for travelers to get out of their cars and onto trains and buses. He noted that only 2% of trips made in the region are on public transit.

“The $250-million cost is a question,” Ikhrata said. But “if we do it well, the return could be quite substantial.”

Anaheim shelved the proposal about 10 years ago when the California High Speed Rail Project and the maglev train from Anaheim to Las Vegas were making little progress.

City officials resumed planning because the state decided to put the high-speed rail question to voters, and because several maglev projects are underway. In addition to the Chinese project, the federal government is weighing a demonstration maglev line on the East Coast. The finalists are a route in Pennsylvania and a line linking Baltimore and Washington.

Anaheim officials so far have spent about $500,000 on the transit center and have held meetings with local and federal legislators. They plan to ask the federal government for about $250 million next fall.

“The timing is better now,” Assistant City Manager Thomas Wood said. “We need to be more aggressive. You are not going to see the freeways widened through this city again.”