Time to get the LA to Coachella Valley train wheels turning – with a mid-valley stop

Hurry up and build a daily passenger train from Los Angeles through the Coachella Valley with a mid-valley stop. We’re ready. Our parents are ready. Their grandparents’ grandparents were ready.

Palm Desert is gunning for a “mid-valley” stop, and we’re here for it.

As the Desert Sun’s Tom Coulter recently reported, Palm Desert City Council approved a feasibility study of its rail station options and submitted it to the Riverside County Transportation Commission, which is helming the project in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration and the California Department of Transportation.

The passenger train in the works will use current stations in LA, Fullerton, Riverside and Palm Springs, along with new stations in the Loma Linda/Redlands area, the San Gorgonio Pass area, the mid-valley, Indio and Coachella.

The specs? The Palm Desert study estimates total construction costs for its station at around $190 million and the overall project's price tag has been estimated at between $1 billion and $1.5 billion.

We poo poo the naysayers of the train dream whose tired NIMBYism arguments about how the valley will become a “bedroom community” don’t hold weight seeing as the county is only continuing to grow.

Cue a quick jaunt to or from LA on Interstate 10, which can quickly turn into a four-hour nightmare – podcast after podcast cued up – drivers counting down minutes ‘til the next In-N-Out.

In addition to the obvious benefit of getting to LA for a concert at the Hollywood Bowl or a Dodgers game, a train extending further east to underserved areas of the county such as Blythe will help make county resources more accessible.

A train will help unify Riverside County, which is a behemoth as the fourth largest county in California (and the 10th largest in the country) at 7,300 square miles. Residents, be they students, public workers heading to Riverside County City Hall, or day-trippers from Los Angeles will benefit concurrently.

Mid-valley is where it’s at – particularly as Palm Springs’ current Amtrak stop in Garnet by the 1-10 often faces impacts from inclement weather challenges from sand and wind.

Palm Desert’s plan to build a “transit hub” just east of Cook Street is a good one – the location near Acrisure Arena and Cal State University San Bernardino’s campus.

We also underscore the importance of safe, easy and affordable parking as a must.

Moving east past Palm Desert, there must also be a stop closer to the largest city in the valley: Indio.

Indio passed a feasibility study in 2020 examining a multimodal transportation hub along Indio Boulevard.

Coachella, too, is looking at three sites, largely running along the railroad tracks from Avenue 48 to Avenue 52 – the city won a $2 million state grant last summer allowing it to move forward with its own rail feasibility study.

So what’s the catch?

A potential Riverside County ballot measure allowing for up to a 1% sales tax increase for transportation projects could be on the ballot this fall, depending on if the RCTC decides to put the question to voters.

Let’s not go down the wrong track with tax increases, pun intended.

As it's election season, we’re looking, ahem, to our local politicians, for answers on how to help get this done.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Time to get the LA to Coachella Valley train wheels turning