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Proposal For Ventura-Santa Barbara County Rail Service Clears Key Hurdle; Could Start April 2nd

Efforts to establish commuter rail service between Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties have taken a big step forward.

The agency which oversees rail service on the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo corridor approved new peak rail service. It’s considered a key approval for the plan.

The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments also has to act, but it’s been a longtime booster of the idea.  The proposal would give commuters an alternative from congested Highway 101 to get to work in Santa Barbara County from Ventura County.

Plans call for a new morning train service to start April 2nd, with the train leaving Camarillo at 5:46 a.m., Oxnard at 5:58, and Ventura at 6:12, arriving in Santa Barbara at 6:47. The return train would leave Goleta at 4:25 p.m., and Santa Barbara and 4:40 p.m.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.