What is the future for Southern California rail and how can agencies and stakeholders come together as they grapple with sea level rise, funding hurdles and challenges facing ridership?
A Senate transportation subcommittee tasked with looking at the resiliency of the Los Angeles–San Luis Obispo–San Diego, or LOSSAN, rail corridor held a hearing on Monday, Dec. 11, in San Clemente to brainstorm ideas for ensuring the key rail line’s successful future. The gathering was led by Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, who also represents a portion of south Orange County.
The California Senate Office of Research released a report ahead of the meeting analyzing the challenges faced by the rail corridor in the future and in securing funding to deliver critical capital investments.
Among challenges, the report highlights, is the growing need to address significant climate impacts to rail infrastructure, including those from “inundation, landslides, flooding, high winds, intense waves, storm surge accelerated coastal erosion, and change in construction material durability.” The south Orange County stretch of the line has already been shuttered for several months at a time because of ocean-related damage to the tracks.
Protecting and addressing needs along the 351-mile corridor, as well as meeting the long-term vision outlined in a 2018 statewide rail plan, will no doubt be costly, officials said – already identified is $10 billion for the Metrolink-sponsored Southern California Optimized Rail Expansion (SCORE) program and at least $7.2 billion for various improvements along San Diego’s section.
The state, since 2016, has given about $3.2 billion in grants to the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency, but that funding in the future is not guaranteed, according to the report.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in 2021 offers a historic opportunity for new federal investment in passenger rail, with up to $20 billion in grants available through 2025, the state’s analysts said. LOSSAN can compete for funds, but the corridor’s likelihood of being awarded funds depends on having a comprehensive, strategic, capital investment plan in place, they said.
Overlapping of many agencies and stakeholders that oversee the rail is one of the many challenges in implementing such a plan, officials said.
Ted Link-Oberstar, transportation and housing consultant for the Senate Office of Research, presented the report’s findings at Monday’s hear, suggesting that agencies look to the Northeast Corridor as a model for cost-sharing programs and collaboration.
He also suggested the state consider an expanded, more formal role to take the lead.
Sarah L. Catz, a researcher for the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Irvine, echoed those thoughts during the hearing, saying a state-led study and oversight is needed so there is a singular point off contact that can coordinate with federal agencies.
LOSSAN is the second busiest passenger rail corridor in the country, with approximately 8.3 million passenger trips in 2019, the last full year before the coronavirus pandemic. Ridership has suffered since, but is rebounding, officials said.
In addition, the corridor supports more than $1 billion in annual freight volume and serves multiple ports of national significance, including those in Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego and Port Hueneme.
Senator Janet Nguyen (R-Huntington Beach), who sits on the committee and participated in the hearing, said she wants to see a focus on making the system faster and easier for residents to use.
“If you want someone like me to get out of my car to be able to get to work or to wherever I need to, it has to be almost the same amount of time or it has to be efficient,” she said in a statement. “Most people would not spend an hour, or two or three hours, waiting for the bus or the train. We all work and have to get to the location.”
The lack of a long-term sustainable capital funding source has been a significant obstacle to growth of intercity passenger rail service in California, the state analysts’ report said.
With half the rail corridor remaining single track, the expansion of service and overall efficiency remains hindered, the LOSSAN agency’s own business plan acknowledges.
The cost of implementing improvements envisioned by the state to the rail line would be more than $20 billion, according to the state analysts’ report.
While the corridor is likely to secure future grants, the state’s capacity to fund LOSSAN projects is limited by budgetary constraints and competition from other rail and transit agencies, officials warned.
Several local representatives and community members spoke on challenges facing the beachfront railway along the Orange County coast, especially in recent years as beach sand buffers have disappeared and slope instability has threatened the rail line.
San Clemente Mayor Victor Cabral noted two recent “catastrophic failures” – the area of Cyprus Shores where landslides damaged the tracks and halted service for months and at Casa Romantica, a historic structure where the collapsing slope earlier this year also threatened the rail line.
Denise Erkeneff, head of Surfrider’s South Orange County chapter, addressed the subcommittee during the hearing’s public comments, saying the rail line should to be moved inland and a state agency needs to be developed to speed up that process.
Speaker Mike Barnes, a 23-year resident of San Clemente, agreed the tracks need to be moved off the beach to another location, rather than spend millions to stabilize the bluffs.
“Mother Nature will win and we will eventually have to move the rail off the beach,” he said. “We can move the tracks, but San Clemente can’t move the beach. We have no place to go.”
Orange County Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley, also a board member of the Orange County Transportation Authority, said the OCTA has invested more than $2 billion the last 30 years between San Clemente and Fullerton, but there needs to be a state-led effort to make sure the rail system is in place for the future.
The California Transportation Commission recently awarded OCTA $12 million to be used toward a local climate-adaption program, she noted.
And preparing for the impacts of climate are already underway locally. She is participating in the county’s efforts to create its own local climate action plan, which is expected to be released in March, she said. Also, a 90-day “hot-spot analysis” to identify vulnerable sections of the coastal tracks in Dana Point and San Clemente is expected to be ready by January, she said.
“It’s important to us that we engage all the stakeholders,” she said, “that we listen to the community, experts and we lead with science.”
