San Diegan Off and Chugging Through Valley

It didn’t quite pack the historical wallop of the coming of the Mayflower, or even the arrival of the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

But Saturday’s inaugural run of Amtrak’s extended service of a train from San Diego to Santa Barbara was hailed by state politicians and transportation officials as an important step toward providing alternatives to commuters fed up with clogged freeways in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

“This is the beginning, another step in the right direction,” said Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge) as she stood on the platform of the Chatsworth Amtrak station awaiting the arrival of the San Diegan.

After the train eased into the station from Van Nuys, La Follette donned an engineer’s cap and told a small but enthusiastic crowd of passengers and train buffs: “We must inform the public that there are choices. We don’t have to have the frazzled nerves we all get on the freeway.”

Official service of the San Diegan, which will operate on Southern Pacific railroad tracks, will start today. Previously, the eight-car passenger train had traveled only between Los Angeles and San Diego.

About 20% to 30% of the passengers on the extended service are expected to be commuters traveling to their jobs, officials said. The remainder will be vacationers and casual riders, they said.

The line will operate one round trip daily between San Diego and Santa Barbara during peak commuting hours. A morning train will leave Santa Barbara at 7:45, and an evening return train will leave San Diego at 4:45.

Stops along the route will include Los Angeles, Glendale, Van Nuys, Chatsworth, Simi Valley and Oxnard.

One-way fare between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles is $18. The round-trip fare is $25 Monday through Thursday and $36 Friday through Sunday. A one-way ticket between Santa Barbara and San Diego is $29.50. A round-trip ticket is $36.50 Monday through Thursday and $59 Friday through Sunday.

For commuters traveling from the west San Fernando Valley to downtown, a ticket from Chatsworth to Los Angeles will cost $9. A round-trip ticket will cost $16 during the week, $18 on weekends.

The extended service was the result of planning between Caltrans, Amtrak and Valley legislators. State Sens. Ed Davis (R-Valencia) and Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys) were among those who worked on the project. Robbins proposed the line to ease congestion during the widening of the Ventura Freeway, which is expected to be completed in late 1990.

More than $9 million of new equipment was jointly purchased by Amtrak and the state for the new line, Davis said. With the new equipment, the train can be pushed by a locomotive along the route into Santa Barbara. The train can be pulled out using the same locomotive, he said.

Davis, who rode the train Saturday on its inaugural trip, said there still may be a need for elevated trains, “but the whole future of transportation in this state will start with this trip.” He said the train would be a convenient way for Valley passengers to get to tourist attractions in Orange Country such as Disneyland and Anaheim Stadium.

The San Diegan route, Amtrak officials said, is the second most popular train route in the country, topped only by Amtrak’s service between Boston and Washington. More than 1.5 million passengers rode the San Diegan last year, and revenue from fare boxes paid for 93% of the service, they said, with the federal and state governments subsidizing the rest.

Davis said the ride of the Amtrak line was “smooth, very smooth. The Valley looked really beautiful from the train.”