Little-Used Crossings Along Rail Line Will Make Tracks

Someday, hopefully within the next year, the very visible but hardly used railroad crossings will be gone.

The City Council recently agreed to pay Union Pacific Railroad Co. $92,500 to remove the seven crossings for the West Santa Ana Branch rail line in Cypress. Now in the process of being abandoned by the company, the rail line cuts diagonally through the city and is used only once or twice a day for access to an oil refinery in Paramount.

Union Pacific has planned a different route to the Paramount refinery via an existing line in Long Beach but is awaiting final approval from the federal Surface Transportation Board before it begins removing the crossing arms and intersection tracks in Cypress.

There are seven railroad crossings to be removed and paved over: Crescent Avenue, Moody Street, Walker Street, Lincoln Avenue, Valley View Street, Orange Avenue and Holder Street.

“They’re lengthy crossings, because they’re diagonal intersections with the streets,” said Alice Ingus, community development director. “Aesthetics and landscaping are an issue. We’re completing the Lincoln Avenue streetscape project, so we’re interested in removing the crossings. There’s only so much you can do to work around it. Removing the tracks would make it easier.”

Union Pacific officials have cited pedestrian and motorist safety as additional reasons for abandoning the line that crosses 29 streets over nine cities. “It runs adjacent to residential neighborhoods, so safety is a part of it,” Ingus said, “but I’m not sure if it’s an overwhelming issue.”

Indeed, there have been no reports of accidents along the line in recent memory according to John Standiford of the Orange County Transportation Authority. “There just isn’t that much train traffic on that line,” Standiford said. “Our major routes are the Orangethrope and the Los Angeles to San Diego corridors.”

And while the crossing will be removed, the remaining track in the city will stay, as the OCTA retains ownership of the right of way.

“We want to keep the corridor open to future, potential use,” Standiford said. “We’re certainly open to working with the cities to help beautify the crossing intersections and make them an asset.

Chris Ceballos can be reached at (714) 966-7440.