Orange County Passenger Rail
Passenger trains offer safe, seamless and reliable transportation throughout Southern California while reducing pollution and traffic by taking cars off the road. OCTA administers and promotes two types of rail service in Orange County and beyond.
Metrolink is Southern California's commuter rail service linking residential communities to employment and activity centers in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura. For the three Metrolink lines serving Orange County, OCTA oversees station and rail improvements and encourages weekday and weekend travel. In FY 23-24, there were 2.4 million annual boardings in Orange County. OCTA is building passing siding tracks in Orange County to reduce delays and enhance efficiency and sustainability.
In addition, OCTA staffs the Los Angeles - San Diego - San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency that oversees the 351-mile LOSSAN corridor, a six-county coastal region in Southern California and the second busiest intercity passenger rail corridor in the United States. The LOSSAN corridor includes the Pacific Surfliner, the busiest state-supported Amtrak route.
Learn more about Metrolink.
Learn more about Pacific Surfliner.
Environmental Benefits
- Metrolink is the first rail agency in the nation to power its entire fleet of locomotives by 100% renewable fuel that burns cleaner and reduces harmful emissions.
- Metrolink trains provide a sustainable alternative to car travel and help reduce traffic and pollution. For every 1,000 people who choose to take the train over driving, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 23,472 pounds, which is the equivalent of the carbon sequestered by a 12-acre forest, the size of 10 football fields—every day.
- In 2023, there were 147 million passenger miles traveled on the Pacific Surfliner, resulting in a reduction of more than 53,000 tons* of greenhouse gases. The C02 emissions saved is the equivalent of: 5 million gallons of gasoline consumed. 6,300 homes' energy use for one year.