Even though it won’t be Metrolink, officials said Thursday that a morning commuter train is headed to Santa Barbara and Goleta in April.
Jason Jewell, the managing director of The Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency, (LOSSAN) outlined what went wrong with Metrolink and also the new plans to restart train service.
Essentially Union Pacific, which owns the tracks, was too busy with other priorities to work on a deal with Metrolink, so LOSSAN stepped in and decided to provide the rail service itself on the Pacific Surfliner.
“I applaud the tenacity in trying to look for another plan when the first one we all voted for and had a lot of enthusiasm for, didn’t pan out,” said 2nd District Supervisor Laura Capps. “I express my frustration toward Union Pacific for just being such a block on something all of us wanted to do.”
The details emerged at Thursday’s regular meeting of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments meeting. Instead of Metrolink, LOSSAN will launch the Pacific Surfliner, essentially the same service it started in 2018, but then shut down in 2020 during the pandemic.
“Because they own the tracks, they essentially control the timeline of when this would have gone forward,” Capps said.
Since LOSSAN already has a contract with Union Pacific, and it received a $27 million grant late last year from the Federal Railroad Administration, it’s quicker to add another route on the Pacific Surfliner.
“The only other potential challenge is future funding,” Jewell said.
The commuter train as it stands now is intended to serve as a one-year pilot program. During that time LOSSAN plans to study the demand and how the train performs, and then make a decision about whether it would continue, based on use and funding.
Jewell said inter-city rail service has traditionally been funded by the state.
“The state has signalled that the inter-city rail budget, moving forward, they have concerns about,” Jewell said. “We would continue to work with them through our annual budget requests as well as look at other funding opportunities that could help sustain, not only our pilot program, but our inter-city rail program.”‘
Jewell spoke candidly to the members of the board.
“The funding in the future is always a concern of ours when we hear about the state budget outlook,” Jewell said.
The new plan is for the Pacific Surfliner to provide a morning train north into Santa Barbara and Goleta in April.
The proposal is for a new train to arrive at the Santa Barbara station at 7:56 a.m. and Goleta at 8:11 a.m. That train would continue on to San Luis Obispo and then return back through Goleta at 2:33 p.m. and Santa Barbara 2:57 p.m. Other Pacific Surfliner trains already in service depart from Goleta and Santa Barbara back to Ventura County later in the evening too.
Several thousand people commute into Santa Barbara and Goleta from Ventura County every morning. Officials had originally boasted about Metrolink, which has never run trains north of Ventura County, because it qualifies for federal funding, which had not been an option for peak-hour train service under the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner.
The Amtrak Pacific Surfliner travels along the 351-mile LOSSAN Corridor, connecting San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Luis Obispo. It’s the busiest state-supported Amtrak route and the second busiest intercity rail corridor in the U.S., serving 2 million riders annually, according to its website.
“I want to make sure that we are making the decision to support the project that is best for the commuting experience and the customer, and not the most convenient one,” said Buellton Mayor David Silva. “Is this just the path of least resistance or is this the best ideal option we can provide?”
Aaron Bonfilio, director of multimodal programs for SBCAG, said at this point Pacific Surfliner is the best option because LOSSAN already has a contract with Union Pacific and can begin service much quicker. Union Pacific is current in the process of merging with Norfolk Southern.
