Rail Line Cost May Reach $370 Million

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission released new estimates Thursday showing that the price tag for a light-rail line from El Segundo to Marina del Rey could reach $370 million.

The new numbers presented at a community forum in Westchester are likely to increase pressure on the commission to build the rail line only as far as Los Angeles International Airport.

It would cost $118 million to build a shorter, 2.1-mile segment from the end of the Century Freeway light-rail line in El Segundo to LAX Parking Lot C. That is less than a third of the price of the entire 5.9-mile north coastal line.

The new figures are also likely to increase competition between the South Bay and other parts of the county for a share of the $800 million available for construction of new rail projects in the 1990s. The money comes from a voter-approved, .5% sales tax.

The north coastal route could face competition from a proposed Los Angeles-to-Pasadena light-rail line. The first segment of that line could cost up to $755 million, but would carry four times as many passengers, according to estimates.

Other rail routes are under consideration in the San Fernando Valley.

A decision by the commission on whether to build all or part of the north coastal route or the Los Angeles-to-Pasadena line is not expected until summer at the earliest. Environmental studies on the valley routes will not be finished until January.

Jacki Bacharach, chairwoman of the commission’s rail construction committee, acknowledged in an interview that political considerations will be a factor in the decision.

“I don’t think any area is going to get their whole project,” said Bacharach, who is mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes. “There are going to have to be compromises for everybody. . . . There will be politics.”

Steve Lantz, a commission spokesman, said the decision will involve many factors. “The competitive factors are not strictly based on environmental or cost issues,” he said. “Each of the commissioners will have to decide what they want to do, and ultimately they will have to take a vote.”

The 11-member commission is made up of elected and appointed officials from throughout the county.

There are sharp differences in the cost and ridership estimates for the competing rail projects.

Five-Mile Segment

The first five-mile segment of a Los Angeles-to-Pasadena rail line, which would end in Highland Park and include a subway through downtown, would cost between $595 million and $755 million, depending on which route is chosen.

That line, an extension of the Los Angeles-to-Long Beach light-rail line already under construction, would carry 48,500 to 53,800 passengers a day, according to the commission.

The north coastal route would be an extension of the Century Freeway light-rail line from Norwalk to El Segundo. The full 5.9 miles to Marina del Rey would cost $370 million, assuming that $40 million in airport right of way and other public land will have to be purchased, Lantz said.

Earlier general estimates had put the cost of the line at between $236 million and $354 million.

The segment from El Segundo to LAX Lot C would cost $118 million, assuming the need to spend $30 million for right of ways through public land.

Final ridership projections for the coastal leg have not been completed. Last May, ridership on the coastal line was estimated at 13,923 passengers a day, less than a quarter of the Los Angeles-to-Pasadena line.

That was before the commission decided to use driverless, fully automated trains on the route. The computer-controlled electric trains will run more frequently and the ridership estimates may increase when a final environmental impact report on the project is completed this spring, Lantz said.

Whether it stops at LAX or the marina, the line would begin where the Century Freeway line ends at Imperial Highway and Aviation Boulevard in El Segundo. It would run north on Aviation Boulevard, west on Century Boulevard, then north again to LAX Parking Lot C.

If the line extends all the way to the marina, it would continue west along Westchester Parkway and then northwest along Lincoln Boulevard, under the current commission plan.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter has suggested a different route that would run north along Sepulveda Boulevard instead of northwest toward Marina del Rey. Galanter would like the line to end in Westwood.

Construction of the project is not expected to have any significant long-term impact on the environment. But there will be unavoidable impacts while construction is under way, including increased traffic congestion, noise and dust. Businesses could be affected by loss of parking spaces.

A two-session public hearing on a draft environmental impact report for the north coastal line will be held Thursday at the Westchester Community Center, 7166 W. Manchester Blvd., Westchester, at 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Copies of the report can be reviewed at local libraries.