Metrolink to expand in 2006

By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | Wednesday, December 28, 2005 9:38 PM PST ∞

Filling a hole in Southern California's commuter rail service, regional transportation agencies are preparing to roll out four trains that will run on weekdays between western Riverside County and Oceanside.

Starting Tuesday, a pair of trains will run south from downtown Riverside, departing at 10:50 a.m. and 1:10 p.m. respectively each weekday, arriving in Oceanside about two hours later. As well, two trains will run north, leaving Oceanside at 7:30 a.m. and 10:35 a.m. Monday through Friday.

"This is something that we've been wanting to do for a while," said John Standiford, spokesman for the Riverside County Transportation Commission. "The demand is definitely there."

Funded by the commission and the Orange County Transportation Authority, the additional trains will become part of Metrolink's five-county commuter rail system, which carries about 40,000 riders each week day.

The system's expansion will bring to 16 the number of trains running each weekday along the popular Inland Empire/Orange County Line, Standiford said. The new trains will run from downtown Riverside to stations in west Riverside, Corona, Anaheim, Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin, Irvine, Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano and Oceanside.

While one could board in Riverside or Corona and travel all the way to coastal North San Diego County, it is expected that most Riverside County riders will head for points in Orange County.

"Most of the passengers are getting off at Anaheim and Irvine," Standiford said. "That's where the jobs are."

The Inland Empire/Orange County Line has continued to attract more riders as congestion has worsened on Highways 91 and 55, which run parallel to the tracks through northern and central Orange County. The route led all Metrolink lines this year in ridership growth by increasing 16 percent to an average of 4,200 daily passengers from October 2004 to October 2005, Standiford said.

Systemwide, Metrolink cracked the 40,000 average daily passenger mark for the first time in September, before reaching an all-time high of 41,177 riders per day in October, he said.

Standiford said the introduction of midday trains on the Riverside-to-Oceanside route should significantly boost the line's passenger total, although he said he could not predict by how much. He said the impact should become clear early on because more people tend to ride in winter than in summer.

"January and especially February are strong months for train ridership," Standiford said. "Everyone is usually back to work (after the holidays) and running full speed. And when it rains, you just don't want to be fighting the freeway traffic."

With next week's debut, regional transportation officials say they are hoping that many commuters will be enticed into trying out Metrolink, knowing that if they get off early they won't be stuck waiting by the railroad tracks for several hours for the next train headed north.

"Some people resist taking the train because they feel bound by a schedule," said Frank West, a Metrolink board member from Riverside County. "Now with these additional trains, they have a schedule that responds to their needs."

Robin Lowe, chairwoman of the transportation commission, said, "the ridership has asked for it, and I think it will really help relieve some of the congestion on the 91."

Besides helping commuters, Standiford said, the new midday options may help occasional riders who spend part of the day in Orange County attending business meetings. Even those occasional riders are likely to receive relief from the gridlock that so often bedevils Highway 91, which carries about 280,000 cars a day.

"Traffic on the 91 doesn't tend to respect any sort of time boundaries," Standiford said.

Because traffic also is bottling up elsewhere in western Riverside County, the transportation commission is preparing to expand Metrolink service again in 2008. In that year, the agency is hoping to begin running trains southeast from downtown Riverside to a new station in Perris at Interstate 215 and Highway 74, making it easier for some Southwest County residents to board.

Meanwhile, the prospect of an eventual expansion into Southwest County brightened recently with the commission's endorsement of a potential route into Temecula and Murrieta along I-215, after a study concluded such a line would attract many commuters. Still, trains may not arrive in Temecula until the early or middle part of the next decade, Standiford said.

"Certainly, the farther we take Metrolink into Riverside County, the more riders we're going to attract," he said. "There is a lot of demand all up and down the I-215 corridor. But we have to put our building blocks in place before we move forward on future expansions."

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or ddowney@californian.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.