Amtrak Will Cut Fares in Effort to Lure More Riders

Round-trip rail fares from San Diego to Los Angeles will be slashed more than 30% in an attempt to prevent Amtrak from becoming “a museum with no customers,” a state transportation official said Wednesday.

California Transportation Commission Chairman Bruce Nestande said boosting long-distance ridership is integral to the line’s survival. Otherwise, he said, “I don’t think it’s going to have the ability to survive as an inter-city train . . . it will become a museum.”

The new fare reductions will slash the round-trip rail fare from San Diego to Los Angeles from $36 to $25, according to Amtrak spokesman Art Lloyd.

Other fares along the San Diego line will also be reduced under a new plan that reduces the price of any round-trip ticket on the line to the regular price of a one-way ticket to that destination plus $7. The new fare structure, also valid on the Amtrak Bakersfield-Oakland line, will be effective beginning Sept. 3.

The San Diego route is the second most widely used in the country, next to the Washington-New York-Boston line, Nestande said. Last year, 1.2 million passengers traveled along the line serving the congested Los Angeles-San Diego corridor.

Ridership is up slightly this year, and transportation officials are working “to fill the vacuum left by the Silver Bullet,” according to Jonathan Richmond, a former consultant to the city of Tustin on the proposed “bullet” high-speed train. The proposed high-speed rail system, which was seen by many as an answer to transportation congestion along the San Diego-Los Angeles corridor, was abandoned in November after intense opposition from residents along the route and because the private firm that planned to construct the system failed to raise the necessary capital.

Officials hope increased bus service to train stations, arranged under a contract with Caltrans, will also feed “new blood” to the trains. Caltrans spokesman Warren Weber said Amtrak will contract for connecting bus service from Los Angeles to Oxnard, with stops at Glendale, Van Nuys, and Simi Valley, as well as service from Santa Ana to Los Angeles via Seal Beach, Long Beach, and Torrance, beginning in August.

Weber also said Wednesday that the Santa Fe Railroad may be softening its position regarding a long-negotiated Amtrak stop in Irvine. “There are indications that if we don’t have a heavy morning commute train, (the stop) could be approved,” he said. Caltrans Associate Engineer Desse Teferi said the Santa Fe Railroad will “probably” approve one stop in each direction initially. The Santa Fe owns the right of way and operates freight trains along the San Diego-Los Angeles line.

Robert Welk, vice president of the executive department of Santa Fe Railroad, said that if Amtrak suggested a stop “in the afternoon . . . or at some time away from the heavy morning commute,” that proposal would be given “careful consideration.”

Welk said, however, that he has not yet received the proposal from Amtrak.

Amtrak schedules must be mutually agreed upon by Amtrak and the Santa Fe Railroad, which also operates trains along the San Diego corridor, Welk said.