Proposal to Create North County Rail-Commuter Agency to Be Studied

North County transit officials took a first tentative step Thursday toward implementing a commuter rail service from San Diego to Oceanside and Escondido. But don’t buy a ticket yet.

North San Diego County Transit Development Board members voted to form a committee to “refine and evaluate” a Denver consulting firm’s study that proposes to start morning-evening commuter service in the summer of 1991.

Funding for the project would come from half-cent sales-tax revenues approved for road and transportation improvements by county voters last November. Allocations of $70 million for the Oceanside-San Diego service and $60 million for the Oceanside-Escondido service have been budgeted from the anticipated $2.2-billion sales-tax increase over the next 20 years.

The Denver consultants propose a new agency to handle the commuter service because none of the current agencies--North County Transit, Metropolitan Transit Development Board and San Diego Assn. of Governments--covers the entire coastal and inland commuter rail area. But transit district directors modified the proposal Thursday, voting to form a temporary committee to recommend a permanent operating structure for the multimillion-dollar venture.

Plans are to run two round-trip commuter trains along the Oceanside-San Diego coastal corridor, either leasing or buying the Santa Fe tracks now used by Amtrak on the San Diego-to-Los Angeles run and by daily freight trains.

Local transit officials called the Lomardo Group study “optimistic,” noting that much planning and negotiating must be done before implementation of the system can be considered.

Two North County board members, Ann Kulchin of Carlsbad and Rick Shea of Encinitas, were appointed to the committee. Two MTDB members are expected to be added when that group meets Feb. 25.

The consultants recommend immediate formation of an independent operating agency to begin negotiations with Santa Fe Railroad to acquire rights to operate the coastal commuter service, but Paul Price, North County Transit’s director of service development, said Santa Fe officials have indicated they will not allow commuter service on the line as long as Santa Fe owns it.

Mike Martin, Santa Fe spokesman, said Thursday that there have been “discussions” about the rail service and possible acquisition of the rail right-of-way with North County transit representatives, but no actual negotiations.

“We are open to any proposals but have received none,” Martin said.

The plan is to run two rail cars south from Oceanside, stopping at nine points during its 70-minute trip to San Diego. The commuter trains would leave San Diego in early evening for the return trip to Oceanside.

Tom Larwin, MTDB general manager, said that the Denver firm’s proposal “is just one way of doing what we want to do,” and suggested that other alternatives be studied before the commuter service is started.

“The report goes a little bit further than we are willing to go at this point,” Larwin said, “and appears to be a bit too optimistic in its estimated start-up date” of mid-1991.

Jim Mills, MTDB board chairman, also criticized the consulting group’s time schedule as “unrealistic” and its proposed 11-station route as “not workable.” With the average station stop requiring five minutes, Mills said, “there is no way that a rapid transit system which would attract commuters could be operated.”

The consultants will submit two other reports to North County Transit dealing with the Oceanside-Escondido line.

Richard Fifer, North County Transit’s general manager, said one factor that may slow the commuter rail start-up is the need to coordinate the service with MTDB’s extension of trolley service north to serve Oceanside and Escondido within the next 15 years.

He estimated that it would be at least 4 years before North County coastal residents could commute south via rail.