Ride’s Fun but Not Fact, Metro Rail Says

Metro Rail experts strongly deny that Universal Studios’ Earthquake ride accurately represents what would really in the Los Angeles subway during a major temblor.

“This Earthquake thing sounds like a lot of fun, but it’s actually total fiction,” said James Crawley, director of rail facilities engineering at the Southern California Rapid Transit District, which is in charge of Metro Rail, now under construction.

“In a quake a subway station would be one of the safest places to be. Our tunnels and stations are designed to take a tremendous amount of lateral and vertical shaking without collapse.”

Crawley cites the 1985 Mexico City quake, which registered 8.1 on the Richter scale; the subways sustained only a brief power outage.

“In choosing a subway station for their quake show, Universal made a serious reality error,” said Buzz Spellman, Metro Rail project geologist.

A vice president of Converse Consultants, which prepares geotechnical and seismological reports on the L.A. subway for the RTD, Spellman also emphasized subways’ quake resistance. “In fact,” he said, “there is no record anywhere in the world of major subway damage in a quake--and that includes the experiences of Tokyo as well as Mexico City.”

None of the tunnels of San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system has been damaged during a tremor, engineers say.

Another example, closer to home, is the Metropolitan Water District’s underground San Fernando Valley water tunnel during the 6.4 Sylmar temblor in 1971. The 20-foot-diameter circular concrete tube that ran through the quake zone was undisturbed.

Metro Rail designers said that like the Universal Studios Earthquake ride, Metro Rail has fail-safe systems. “Our track beds and station platforms will be equipped with a sophisticated earthquake detection system,” said Harold Storey, RTD safety director.

“Immediately as a tremor begins, seismic sensors buried along the line will automatically shut down trains.”