Santa Ana, CA
Stop on the proposed 17,000-mile maglev network. Next stop: Orange, CA (3.0 mi).
About Santa Ana
Santa Ana is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As of 2023, Santa Ana is the third most populous city in Orange County, the 14th-most populous city in California, and the 65th most populous city in the United States.
Source: Wikipedia summary (full article). Population and facts as published there.
Cost breakdown (proposal-scale estimates — see math)
| Item | Basis | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal construction | Large-city terminal ($2–4B range) | $3.0B |
| Land acquisition | Regional factor 1.5× on $200M base | $300M |
| Track: Santa Ana → Orange | 3.0 mi × $500M/mi | $1.5B |
| Annual operations (share) | 2% of $3.0B terminal | $60M/yr |
| Stop total (excl. annual ops) | $4.8B |
Best terminal location (proposed)
The Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center district. The existing transportation center already serves Metrolink and Amtrak, and is the terminus of the new OC Streetcar. The downtown civic center — county seat, courts, and federal offices — generates constant government travel demand. Freeway-adjacent parcels along the rail corridor give the only realistic buildable footprint in central Orange County.
Before / after
Aerial mock-up (illustrative, not an engineering rendering). Left: the proposed site today. Right: with the maglev terminal.
- Orange — historic plaza city with the preserved Old Towne district.
- Tustin — master-planned community on the I-5 corridor.
- MainPlace corridor — retail district on the 17th Street approach.