The Orange County Line is a

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

line run by Metrolink from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

through Orange County to Oceanside in San Diego County, connecting with the Coaster commuter rail service to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. The Orange County Line carries passengers to the primary Metrolink hub at in

downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

, as well as to many attractions in Orange County including the Knott's Berry Farm area, Angel Stadium of Anaheim and the Honda Center, the

Disneyland Resort The Disneyland Resort is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Disney Experiences, Experiences division and is home to two theme parks (Disneyland and Dis ...

, Old Town Orange, Santa Ana Zoo, Mission San Juan Capistrano and many more. In San Diego County, it serves the Oceanside Pier and Camp Pendelton.

History

The Orange County Line began on April30, 1990, as the ''Orange County Commuter'', an

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

-operated service between

and San Juan Capistrano funded by the Orange County Transportation Authority. The ''Orange County Commuter'' made a single weekday round-trip, departing San Juan Capistrano in the morning and returning in the evening. Between July and December 1993 during the ''Orange County Commuter's'' final months, both the

Commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

and Orange stations opened.

conveyed the route to Metrolink on March28, 1994, becoming the "Orange County Line" and Metrolink's fifth route. Service expanded to eight trips in 1995. In October 2005, the Orange County Transportation Authority announced that it would increase service on the Orange County Line, running trains twenty hours daily, seven days a week every 30 minutes. The first part of the additional service was implemented in June 2006 with Saturday service, and July 2006 with Sunday service. The plan has drawn criticism as many Metrolink stations are located beyond walking distance from important destinations such as

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

and the adjacent Anaheim Convention Center, Knott's Berry Farm, and the Irvine Spectrum. Funds for new rolling stock and track improvements were allocated from the voter-approved Measure M half-cent sales tax, while critics had advocated using the money for bus operations or other transit service instead. To address some of these issues, OCTA operates a series of Stationlink shuttle routes that connect Metrolink stations in Orange County to nearby destinations. service is provided seven days a week, with 29 trains on weekdays, and 8 on weekends. The

'' Pacific Surfliner'' supplements Orange County Line service by providing limited stop service along the corridor and more service during mid-days, nights and weekends.

Future development

The route of the Orange County Line may be used for future extensions of the planned

California High-Speed Rail California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR) is a publicly funded high-speed rail system being developed in California by the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Phase 1, about long, is planned to run from San Francisco, California, San Francisco to ...

line from Los Angeles Union Station to

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the tenth-most ...

. Potential stops include Norwalk or Fullerton. The line it uses, the Surf Line, is vulnerable to the effects of

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

and

sea level rise The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

in San Clemente, California. Between 2022 and 2023, service was suspended several times due to coastal erosion. Service most recently resumed on May27, 2023. The

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), branded as Metro, is the county agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the Transportation in Los Angeles, public transportation system in Los Ang ...

(LA Metro) also has plans for an infill station serving Pico Rivera, located between and stations.

Route

While the Orange County Line shares trackage with Amtrak's '' Pacific Surfliner'' trains, its northernmost stations (from Los Angeles to Fullerton, excluding Commerce) are shared with the 91/Perris Valley Line and nearly all of its other stations with the Inland Empire–Orange County Line (from Orange to Oceanside). The Orange County Line runs on the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

's Southern Transcon track between

and Fullerton, under a shared-right-of-way agreement. Several stations, most notably the ones in downtown Fullerton and Santa Ana, are renovated Spanish Colonial Revival depots originally built by the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

. Sections of the line between Santa Ana and Oceanside allow for operating speeds.

Stations

Under Amtrak operation the ''Orange County Commuter'' stopped at the following stations: , , , Anaheim–Stadium, , , , and . With the Metrolink takeover in 1994 the southern terminus moved to and five

infill station An infill station (sometimes in-fill station) is a train station built on an existing passenger rail, rapid transit, or light rail line to address demand in a location between existing stations. Such stations take advantage of existing train ser ...

s were subsequently added: and in 1995, and in 2002, and in 2007. The October 2017 timetable shows ten weekday trains from Los Angeles to Oceanside and back, eight from Fullerton to Laguna Niguel and back, seven from Los Angeles to Laguna Niguel and back, four from Fullerton to Oceanside, and two from Los Angeles to Irvine and back. Passengers that have monthly passes can use ''Pacific Surfliner'' trains between their station pairs on any day except for specific blacked out days by Amtrak for holidays and special events (such as events at Del Mar) on this line.

References

External links