Ventura County Pushes 2 Plans for Filling Gap Left by Loss of Its Commuter Trains

Concluding that CalTrain, the Oxnard-to-Los Angeles commuter service, is finally dead because of meager patronage and uncertainty over costs, Ventura County officials are pushing two other plans for rail service.

Officials of four eastern Ventura County cities are pressing a proposal to have the San Diegan, an Amtrak-operated commuter line between Los Angeles and San Diego, extended north through the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County to Santa Barbara.

Another plan being pursued is to have the two Los Angeles-to-San Francisco Amtrak trains stop in Simi Valley.

Both proposals, however, could be doomed if Congress accepts the Reagan Administration’s recommendation to halt Amtrak subsidies.

Dependence on 2 Routes

Ventura County officials have become increasingly concerned in recent years by the county’s dependence on the clogged Ventura and Simi Valley freeways, the only through routes between the Valley and Ventura County.

Between half and two-thirds of wage earners in the bedroom communities in eastern Ventura County travel to jobs in Los Angeles.

The Ventura County plan to extend the San Diegan line north dovetails with efforts already under way in Orange and San Diego counties to expand the service.

Los Angeles County officials are hoping that an alliance with the two counties to the south could flex the political muscle to persuade state and federal officials to subsidize the increased service.

“So far, we have merely gotten together, decided that CalTrain is not going to restart and decided what we want to pursue as alternatives,” said Michael Sedell, Simi Valley assistant city manager.

Arranging Meetings

“We are in the process of arranging meetings to determine how to go about getting rail service.”

Sedell said the plan to have Amtrak’s two Coast Starlight trains that pass through Ventura County stop in Simi Valley would not provide commuter service, since the northbound train passes though Simi at 11 a.m. and the southbound at 6 p.m.

However, he said, “We see it as a rail link, a start on our goal of getting tied in by rail,” he said.

The Ventura County effort has drawn support from the cities of Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Moorpark and Simi Valley, and from the county Board of Supervisors.

The San Diegan’s seven round trips now carry about 4,000 passengers every weekday.

Successful Commuter Run

Considered one of the nation’s most successful commuter rail services, the San Diegan derives about 75% of its operating revenue from fares.

The state Department of Transportation provides the rest.

Oceanside Councilman Walter Gilbert, who organized Orange and San Diego counties’ effort, said the priority of local officials in the counties is to persuade Caltrans and Amtrak to add an eighth round-trip each weekday.

“And we want that added train to arrive in San Diego about 8:15 each morning,” he said, “because now the earliest train arriving in San Diego is around 11 a.m. And that doesn’t do much for people who want to spend the day in San Diego.”

If the eighth train is assured, he said, the group plans to push for extending at least three round-trip trains each day to Santa Barbara.

‘On the Same Track’

Although the Orange County-San Diego County group has no goal of including rush-hour service to and from Los Angeles for Ventura County residents, Gilbert said the two groups “seem to be on the same track.

“Our goal is to get more ridership along the whole line by extending it north to Santa Barbara, making it a true coastal line,” he said.

“If those three trains that go north are able to pick up commuters, so much the better,” Gilbert said, “because that will enhance ridership.”

Felicia Archer, a Caltrans spokeswoman, said the state had not received written requests yet from either the Orange County-San Diego County group or the Ventura County group.

“But we certainly would react with interest,” she said, “because the San Diegan has been a success from our point of view.”

An Amtrak spokesman said that, if Congress drops subsidies, the San Diegan and Coast Starlight trains “would probably be discontinued or at least cut back, because they are part of a network and get many riders from other Amtrak lines.”

CalTrain was operated by the state for 4 1/2 months on a twice-daily schedule before the state Public Utilities Commission ordered it discontinued in March, 1983.

Ridership averaged 180 round-trip passengers a day, about one-eighth what the State Department of Transportation had predicted.

Proponents argued that patronage was low because of constant uncertainty about continuation of the service and because Southern Pacific Railroad provided drafty and unclean cars.

Railroad’s Explanation

Spokesmen for Southern Pacific, which resisted a PUC order to operate the commuter service, blamed the low ridership on lack of demand.

Southern Pacific maintained in hearing before the PUC and the federal Interstate Commerce Commission that being forced to provide the passenger service interfered with its freight operations.

Simi Valley Councilwoman Vicky Howard, who has been in the forefront of efforts to revive CalTrain, said the drive received a “mortal blow” when a recent ICC decision failed to clear up lingering uncertainty over the subsidy that Caltrans would have to pay to Southern Pacific if the service were to be revived.

Caltrans says the subsidy should be about $100,000 a month but Southern Pacific insists it cost the railroad $588,000 a month to provide the service.

Conflicting Rulings

The ICC ruled in April that the railroad was entitled to determine what the subsidy would be.

But the ICC also ruled in December that the state PUC had the right to determine the amount Caltrans should pay.

Caltrans attorney Ed Conner said state officials are perplexed about the two rulings, which he said were “inconsistent.”

Howard said the seemingly contradictory rulings and the unlikelihood of obtaining a clarification from the ICC, led local officials to conclude that CalTrain was in an “impossible situation.”