Safety Panel Urges Special Precautions for Metro Rail

A panel of experts reviewing the safety of the Los Angeles Metro Rail subway concluded Monday that the first portion of the proposed project is “feasible” to construct and operate but that special precautions should be taken to reduce earthquake and underground gas hazards.

In a carefully worded report, a panel of geologists, engineers and mining experts said that the first 4.4-mile segment of the subway “is not more complicated and does not pose greater hazards of construction or operation” than other tunneling projects that have been successfully completed.

But in several areas the report calls for additional studies and safety measures by the Southern California Rapid Transit District, which hopes to break ground on the downtown portion of the subway in the next few months.

Uncharted Oil Wells

The top concern of the panel members, and one that they said needs additional attention before construction begins, is locating old, uncharted oil wells that could be unexpectedly ruptured during tunnel boring and spew methane gas into the work area.

About a dozen other recommendations call for more thorough studies of soil and gas conditions along the route, a re-examination of possible earthquake damage to the subway tunnel and improvements in systems to detect gas in the tunnel during construction or subway operation.

The technical panel’s report will be presented to the Los Angeles City Council’s Transportation and Traffic Committee on Wednesday. The committee is expected to recommend that the City Council accept the report, taking the project one step closer to final approval.

RTD General Manager John Dyer called the recommendations “constructive” and said they would be implemented. He said the report supported the RTD’s contention that the proposed tunneling “is not a serious problem.”

Political Compromise

The safety review was ordered late last year as part of a political compromise worked out between proponents of the $3.3-billion commuter rail line and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles), who questioned the safety of the project after seeping underground methane blew apart the Ross Dress for Less clothing store in the Fairfax district. Waxman threatened to use his considerable influence to hold up congressional financing for Metro Rail until the safety questions were resolved to his satisfaction.

City Council President Pat Russell, a supporter of the subway, named eight members to the panel and Waxman named two.

Waxman is out of the country and was not available for comment Monday. Earlier he had voiced concerns about the panel’s study. Citing the safety questions it raised, Waxman called on the panel to consider whether alternatives, such as a surface system, would be safer.

But panel members said that they were limited to reviewing the current RTD construction and routing plan and not suggesting major design changes. Phil Schiliro, a Waxman aide, said Monday that the congressman, whose Westside district would include much of the downtown-to-North Hollywood route, was “disappointed” in the report and “uneasy” about the safety issues raised. But the congressman, who last year threatened to fight all financing for the project, has not decided what action he may take, Schiliro said. “We want to give (the city and the RTD) an opportunity to respond (to the report),” he said. “We’ll go from there.”

Though all members of the panel signed the report, there were varying characterizations among panel members Monday as to how safe they believe the project would be. Panel Chairman George Housner, a Caltech seismologist appointed by Russell, said the experts think the subway “could be constructed with adequate safety.”

But Waxman appointee J. Davitt McAteer, a Washington attorney who has represented mine workers, said the report “raises more questions than it answers.” He said that building the subway is both “feasible and still fraught with danger.

“These two things are not inconsistent,” McAteer said, explaining his approval of the report.