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 through the Cycle 7 of the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP), support key infrastructure projects by member agencies along the LOSSAN Rail Corridor.

The LOSSAN Rail Corridor is the second busiest intercity passenger rail corridor in the nation and the busiest state-supported Amtrak route.

The Ortega siding project will create operational flexibility in a main 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 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 chair and Oxnard City Councilmember.

“These grant awards re-affirm the vital importance of our rail infrastructure,” he said. “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 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,” Williams said.

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, and the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments.