Ventura Officials Will Ask L. A. for Help in Reviving CalTrain

Officials of cities in eastern Ventura County will ask the City of Los Angeles to help pay to revive CalTrain, the Oxnard-to-Los Angeles commuter rail service that ended operations two years ago.

The local officials met Thursday at a closed-door meeting at Simi Valley City Hall. Afterward they said the situation had been complicated by the latest Interstate Commerce Commission decision.

Railroad Determines Amount

That ruling, announced Monday, allows Southern Pacific Railroad to determine how much the state must pay the railroad for past and future operations of CalTrain, which lasted only 4 1/2 months.

Officials at the state Department of Transportation are still reviewing the ICC’s ruling and said they are unsure of their next step.

They said they are perplexed about that ruling in light of another ICC decision in December that gave the state Public Utilities Commission the right to set the amount the state should pay Southern Pacific.

“My way of thinking was that either the PUC or Southern Pacific has the right to decide the amount,” said Ed Connor, an attorney for the state Transportation Department. “This decision says both. And that’s inconsistent.”

Mike Sedell, assistant city manager of Simi Valley, said he and Simi Valley Councilwoman Vicki Howard will ask Los Angeles officials to contribute money to revive CalTrain. But Los Angeles County officials have already indicated a lack of interest in restarting CalTrain, Sedell said.

State law requires that 40% of CalTrain’s cost be covered by fares. The remaining 60% is to be shared equally by the state and local governments along the route--Oxnard, Moorpark, Simi Valley, Van Nuys, Burbank and Los Angeles.

However, the ICC ruling, and the confusion it has caused state and local officials, may complicate revival efforts because the final interpretation of the ruling will affect how much CalTrain will cost.

Far Apart on Cost

Southern Pacific has maintained that it cost the railroad $588,000 a month to operate CalTrain. The state estimates the cost at about $100,000 a month.

Sedell said that the lower estimate of CalTrain’s past and future operational costs would likely be too much for the local governments to bear without help from Los Angeles.

Simi Valley has shown the most interest in restarting the service, primarily because it could help relieve the clogged Simi Valley Freeway at rush hour. Half of CalTrain’s riders during its brief life lived in Simi Valley.