Panel OKs Amtrak Run to Santa Barbara

The state Transportation Commission on Thursday voted to increase Amtrak passenger service between Los Angeles and San Diego, and approved first-time Amtrak service between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

The commission unanimously voted to add an eighth round-trip daily to the San Diego-Los Angeles route, one of the most popular in the Amtrak system. One of those trains would extend its run to Santa Barbara each day.

Train service could start between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara by late summer or early fall 1987 at the earliest, said Warren Weber, chief of Caltrans’ Office of Rail Service. Amtrak has estimated that 68,000 will ride the line, tentatively called the Venturan, during its first year.

The new Los Angeles to Santa Barbara service, however, cannot be started without the approval of the owner of the track, Southern Pacific Transportation Co. Railroad spokesmen have said they will seriously consider the proposal to expand Amtrak service. They cautioned, however, that additional passenger service could not interfere with the railroad’s freight runs to the General Motors plant in Van Nuys and to its other business customers.

However, Weber said he is “almost 99% sure” there will be no problems getting the Santa Barbara service on track.

The Transportation Commission approved spending $3.3 million to expand the service, which will be combined with $4.5 million approved by Amtrak’s board of directors on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The money will be used to modify existing trains operating in Southern California.

The overhaul of the trains would reduce labor and other costs, thereby making an eighth San Diego run and a Santa Barbara-to-Los Angeles route--with stops in the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County--economically feasible, state transportation officials said.

State Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), who had formed a coalition of federal, state and local lawmakers to lobby for the Los Angeles-to-Santa Barbara service, testified before the commission. He said the new service is needed to relieve the congested highways.

“We think this is a marvelous thing for us and maybe for San Diego,” Davis told the commission.

“It will be more successful than the San Diegan service was when Caltrans began it in 1976,” Davis predicted.

The new northern train is tentatively scheduled to make stops in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, Simi Valley, Panorama City and Burbank.