Caltrans Seeks Ways to Speed Amtrak on Way

Caltrans has started a 6-month study into ways to speed up trains, shorten delays and add destinations on the Amtrak route that crosses Ventura County to connect Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

More than 30,000 riders traveled the route in the 3 months following its June inception, almost twice what Amtrak had estimated.

“The response was phenomenal, and we want to build on that success,” said Cindy McKim, who is in charge of the state Department of Transportation’s Division of Mass Transportation.

The line is an extension of the San Diegan’s route between San Diego and Los Angeles, the second most-traveled Amtrak line in the United States.

In the last fiscal year, nearly 1.7 million people booked passage on that route, which runs eight trains a day round trip between San Diego and Los Angeles and one train round trip between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

Caltrans’ study group, chaired by McKim, is made up of 11 representatives from Southern California governments and transportation commissions, including the Ventura County Assn. of Governments and the Southern California Assn. of Governments.

Stop at More Stations

It will examine such ideas as adopting a centralized traffic control system, straightening curves and improving signals, said Matt Paul, Caltrans rail services branch manager.

Once implemented, the proposed changes could allow the train to stop at more stations and still reach its final destination about 15 minutes sooner. The trip between San Diego and Santa Barbara now takes 5 hours and 40 minutes.

The northern leg includes stops at Los Angeles, Glendale, Van Nuys, Chatsworth, Simi Valley, Oxnard and Santa Barbara.

The train is viewed by some officials as the forerunner of daily commuter service between Ventura County and Los Angeles.

However, service right now is not designed for commuters. A round-trip ticket between Simi Valley and Los Angeles, for example, costs $16.50. The round-trip from Oxnard is $19.50.

Timing also is a problem. The San Diegan leaves Oxnard at 8:35 a.m. and arrives in Los Angeles at 10:20 a.m. The Coast Starlight, which plies a route between Seattle and Los Angeles, leaves Oxnard at 5:24 p.m. and arrives in Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m.--hours not aimed at commuters.

Ventura is one of the stations that will be added to the route once the city builds a railway platform, Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said. City officials expect that job to be completed in November, 1989. Until then, the city is linked to rail lines by Caltrans buses.

This is the second study that Caltrans has conducted on the San Diegan. The first one recommended improvements on the southern leg, which shortened the trip by about 20 minutes, McKim said.

So far, the study group has received a consultant’s report on service between Los Angeles and Oxnard, and is commissioning a similar report on service between Oxnard and Santa Barbara.

Members will bring their findings, including ideas for financing improvements, to the Legislature by April 30.

Use Expected to Grow

Caltrans officials expect the number of passengers--now calculated at 40% of capacity--to grow after the improvements are made, but they won’t skyrocket to the level of Amtrak’s No. 1 mine, the Boston-Washington route that serves 11.2 million people a year.

“At least in the short term, it would be unrealistic to expect that large a growth,” Paul said.

“However, there’s no reason to think the Los Angeles to Santa Barbara leg of the San Diegan route will not experience the heavy ridership experienced on its southern leg.”

How many people the system shifts from cars to trains--Amtrak’s goal, Black said--will depend on how much money Amtrak and the state put into the project, officials said.

With existing trains, the number of riders could double, said Chuck Davis, who heads Caltrans’ Office of Rail Services.

Beyond that, it would be up to the state and Amtrak to finance the purchase and maintenance of additional trains, he said.

Amtrak started its San Diego-Los Angeles route May 1, 1971, and, in 1976, the state began to subsidize additional trains.

Today, the state shares with Amtrak the cost of running the trains, including the extension to Santa Barbara.