West Santa Ana Branch

The West Santa Ana Branch is a rail right-of-way (ROW) formerly used by Pacific Electric (PE) streetcars in Los Angeles County and Orange County in Southern California, United States. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) now owns the part of the ROW in Los Angeles County, and the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) owns the part of the ROW in Orange County.

The right-of-way was owned by the Pacific Electric Railway. The ROW runs from the Watts Towers in the city of Los Angeles, southeast to the intersection of 4th Street and Santa Ana Boulevard in downtown Santa Ana. A two-mile portion of it is occupied by the I-105 and the Green Line. The ROW runs dead-straight for nearly 20-miles on a diagonal between these two cities, in stark contrast to the cardinal grid of Orange County. As such, the route is clearly visible from aerial photographs from high altitude.

The Ghost Town & Calico Railroad attraction at Knott's Berry Farm uses a PE depot formerly located at Hansen station along the ROW in Stanton as the main station building. The building was moved to the theme park in 1952.

The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), in conjunction with Metro and OCTA, conducted an alternatives analysis to determine the list of all feasible alternatives for the project. These alternatives may use all or part of the ROW. Modes under consideration were bus rapid transit, light rail, commuter rail and high-speed rail. SCAG organized a first round of public meetings in June 2010. A second round of public meetings were held in November and December 2010.

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