$1.5-Billion Bond Issue Proposed for Railway Projects

Likening the United States to a Third World country in its development of rail transit services, key legislators proposed a $1.5-billion bond issue Tuesday to finance an array of commuter and intercity rail projects in California.

Led by Assemblyman Jim Costa (D-Fresno), the lawmakers said the state is in such urgent need of a variety of solutions to its mammoth traffic problems that they will introduce a bill in the next few weeks that will place the general obligation bond issue on the June, 1990, ballot.

In an effort to attract widespread support for the measure, Costa said it would specify the projects that would be eligible for funds. Among the projects, he said, would be an expansion of the Orange County-Los Angeles lines and creation of new commuter services between San Bernardino and Los Angeles, between San Bernardino-Riverside and Orange County, and along the congested Ventura-San Fernando Valley-Los Angeles corridor.

Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys) said he envisions the bond money being used for expanded commuter service along the Southern Pacific main line from Simi Valley to Union Station in Los Angeles, with stops in Chatsworth, Panorama City, Burbank and Glendale. Amtrak already runs intercity trains along the line.

“That will allow commuter service at rush hour between Chatsworth and downtown Los Angeles in less than 30 minutes and between Van Nuys and downtown Los Angeles in less than 20 minutes,” he said.

Costa said intercity projects would include extensive upgrading of facilities to provide hourly service between Los Angeles and San Diego and expanded service between the Bay Area and Sacramento and through the San Joaquin Valley.

The measure, which would be called the Clean Air and Transportation Improvement Act of 1990, would distribute the $1.5 billion to passenger rail capital projects throughout the state on a population basis. Before any funds could be allocated by the state Transportation Commission, local transit agencies would have to present plans identifying all funding sources for projects and demonstrating their ability to cover operating expenses.

The bonds and interest would be repaid from state tax dollars over a 20-year period. Funds could be used for, among other things, the purchase of rail cars and locomotives, acquisition of rights of way, improvements to track, stations and grade crossings and construction of stations.