The proposed Camp Pendleton Rail Station, which would serve one of the largest employers in Southern California, remains a plan on paper only.
But blueprints for the station pulled forward last week when the North County Transit District OK’d a $130,800 contract for additional planning and design services with consulting firm PB Americas Inc.
Under the deal, the firm would study how to best connect the rail station to roads on the base, home to 45,000 military personnel and a total of 70,000 people during the day, including contractors and military families.
Last November, the Marine Corps and transit district agreed to explore station plans. The district said both sides hope to build the station near the Stuart Mesa Maintenance Facility, which is on the military base just east of Interstate 5. It houses and repairs Coaster, Amtrak and Metrolink trains.
The consulting firm would also examine how to link the Sprinter light-rail service, which runs from Escondido to Oceanside, to the Camp Pendleton station.
The district’s Breeze buses already serve Camp Pendleton. The rail station plans would incorporate bus service.
Matt Tucker, the transit district’s executive director, said after last week’s contract approval that next up for the project is a set of ridership and revenue projections, expected by early January.
He said those reports will help determine how much funding the district must seek for the rail station, which he said would take two to three years to build.
Tucker said Thursday that he couldn’t provide a cost estimate for the station.
He noted that station plans are moving forward and won’t drag on for years.
San Marcos Councilman Chris Orlando, the transit district chairman, said the station would benefit those who travel to the base from San Diego and Orange counties and across Southern California.
“It really (would be) an inter-regional resource,” Orlando added.
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