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TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This Connect SoCal Passenger Rail report lays out a vision of passenger rail
Passenger Rail services for the SCAG Region for the next three decades. It demonstrates
the progress that has been made over the last two decades in terms of
growing ridership, new rail services, capital improvements and new funding
opportunities. It demonstrates the regional importance and significance of
passenger rail in the SCAG region, and why growing rail services by increasing
frequencies in underserved corridors, as well as establishing service in unserved
markets, is crucial to the future mobility and sustainability of our region.

The report highlights recent success in establishing new funding opportunities
for passenger rail, including the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program
(TIRCP) and Senate Bill (SB) 1. Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner intercity rail service is
benefiting from these new funding opportunities as well as recent institutional
arrangements that establish local control for the service. The Southern
California Regional Rail Authority’s (SCRRA) Southern California Optimized Rail
Expansion (SCORE) program is an ambitious long-term capital improvement
program to increase service on most of its lines to 15- and 30-minute
frequencies, and SCRRA was recently awarded nearly one billion dollars in TIRCP
funds for initial improvements.

Finally, the report takes a look at existing conditions; a needs assessment
which discusses, among other things, capacity constraints and opportunities
for improved connectivity, including rail access to the region’s airports;
and rail projects in the pipeline, both under construction and unfunded
strategic long-term projects.

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