The town's first rail service, the Santa Ana, Orange & Tustin Street Railway, was a 4.04 mile long horsecar line that ran between Santa Ana and Orange, beginning in 1886. One year later the Santa Ana & Orange Motor Road Company purchased the line, using a steam "dummy" car and a single gasoline motorcar as its means of conveyance. In 1906 Henry E. Huntington acquired the company under the auspices of the Los Angeles Inter-Urban Railway and electrified the line. Passenger service over the new line operated by Huntington's Pacific Electric Railway began on June 8, 1914, originating at the PE's depot on Lemon Street. The route provided freight service to the localcitrus growers in direct competition with the Santa Fe. In 1961 Pacific Electric sold out to the Southern Pacific Railroad, who ultimately abandoned the line in 1964. The Santa Fe, under its affiliate the Southern California Railway, laid its first tracks through Orange in 1886 and established its first depot the following year. The route would become part of the railroad's famous "Surf Line" and by 1925 sixteen daily passenger trains made stops in Orange. During peak growing seasons, as many as 48 carloads of citrus fruits, olives, and walnuts were shipped daily from the Orange depot as well. Rail connections to Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, and Northern San Diego County are provided by the Metrolink regional commuter rail network. The Metrolink platform is situated adjacent to the former Santa Fe depot in the downtown Historic District, which is also home to an Orange CountyTransportation Authoritybus station. The former Santa Fe mainline links the cities of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Diego via a junction north of the station. Service returned to the station on December 6, 1993, when Amtrak's Orange County Commuter began stopping there. The Orange County Commuter became Metrolink's Orange County Line in 1994. The train station currently houses a Ruby's Diner. In October 29, 2007 Amtrak added a stop at Orange to the Pacific Surfliner route. Just two morning and two evening trains stopped at this station each day. But by 2010 the station was only serving an average of seven passengers a day. Because of the weak ridership the stop was cancelled in early 2013.
Service
Two Metrolink lines, the Inland Empire-Orange County line and the Orange County line, serve the Orange station.
