CountyofSantaBarbara
Railway Project Will Allow For New Daily Passenger Trains
The California State Transportation Agency has awarded $22 million in grant funding for the construction of the Ortega siding in the Summerland area, a significant regional project that will allow for more passenger train trips.
The grant awards, which were part of the overall $1.3 billion in funding announced by CalSTA last week through the Cycle 7 of the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP), support critical infrastructure projects by member agencies along the LOSSAN Rail Corridor, which is the second busiest intercity passenger rail corridor in the United States and the busiest state-supported Amtrak route.
“The Ortega siding project is part of more than $189 million in state grant funding awarded for projects along the LOSSAN Rail Corridor that will significantly enhance the resiliency of the rail line and create capacity to move more passengers and more goods throughout the corridor,” said Bryan MacDonald, LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency (Agency) Chair and Oxnard City Councilmember. “These grant awards re-affirm the vital importance of our rail infrastructure. We greatly appreciate the state’s strong support for the LOSSAN rail corridor through TIRCP and congratulate our member and partner agencies for their successful grant proposals.”
The Ortega siding project will create operational flexibility in a critical coastal section of the rail corridor. Current single-tracking alignment does not allow for bi-directional movement, restricting trains’ ability to pass one another. This has meant trains are held in Santa Barbara or at Seacliff.
“The Ortega Siding Project will lay the ground work for additional passenger rail trips to Santa Barbara County – literally.” said Das Williams, LOSSAN Board of Directors’ member representing SBCAG. “By creating additional capacity in the rail corridor, it will allow for a seventh daily Pacific Surfliner trip between San Diego and Goleta and a third daily trip between San Diego and San Luis Obispo.”
The Ortega Siding Project will leverage $10,677,000 funds already allocated to LOSSAN, bringing the total available funding for the project to $32,677,000.
The project is a collaboration between LOSSAN, Coast Rail Coordinating Council (CRCC), and the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG). The LOSSAN Agency will lead the implementation of this project, with the next steps being the preliminary engineering and final design Phases.
About LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency
The LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency (Agency) is a joint powers authority originally formed in 1989 that works to increase ridership, revenue, capacity, reliability, coordination and safety on the coastal rail line between San Diego, Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo. It is governed by a 11-member Board of Directors composed of elected officials representing rail owners, operators, and planning agencies along the rail corridor.
