L.A., Palmdale Scrambling for Train : 2 Cities Criticize Report That Favors Orange County for Rail Line to Las Vegas

Los Angeles and Palmdale officials Monday challenged a consultant’s finding that Anaheim was a better bet than the northern San Fernando Valley for the terminus of a proposed “gambler’s special” high-speed train linking Las Vegas and Southern California.

“I don’t think they factored in how much traffic would be generated if we got that airport going up there in Palmdale,” said Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro, referring to the city’s long-closed Palmdale Air Terminal. Los Angeles wants Palmdale to be an intermediate stop on the rail route between Las Vegas and the Valley.

“We desperately need that airport opened,” Ferraro said, “and we’ll keep pushing for it.”

And a top Palmdale official said his Antelope Valley city would soon release its own report indicating that routing the train through Palmdale would be less costly than through heavily congested San Bernardino and Orange counties.

The Palmdale report will project continued rapid population growth in both the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys and suggests that future commuter ridership between Palmdale and the San Fernando Valley “can be expected to greatly increase,” said Palmdale Mayor William Knight.

The futuristic $4-billion rail project is the brainchild of Las Vegas gambling interests, which view it as a vehicle for boosting the number of gamblers at Nevada hotels and casinos.

Approval Needed

Technologies under consideration are a still-experimental West German magnetic levitation system, the French TGV high-speed train and the Japanese bullet train.

The train would be built with private funds, but would require approval of the California Legislature because most of its 230 miles of track would be in the Interstate 15 right of way.

The consultant’s report released Friday was prepared by the California-Nevada Super-Speed Ground Transportation Commission, which was created by the two states’ legislatures to select a route.

Ridership for an Anaheim-to-Las Vegas line was projected to be as high as 5.7 million round trips annually by the year 2000, and would be 6.5 million if the train also stops in Ontario, the consultants said.

In contrast, a line between Las Vegas and the northern San Fernando Valley would draw a maximum of 2.3 million round-trip riders a year, the report said.

The rival routes were much closer in the number of commuters they would draw.

A separate commuter service using the same tracks between Orange and San Bernardino counties would draw 433,000 round-trip passengers annually, while a similar commuter service between the northern Valley and Palmdale would draw 418,000 riders, the report predicted.

The Los Angeles plan, strongly supported by Mayor Tom Bradley, envisions the high-speed train originating in Mission Hills or Sylmar as a vehicle for relieving congestion at Los Angeles International Airport by encouraging passengers to use the Palmdale Air Terminal.

The air terminal, which has been unused since 1985 for lack of an airline willing to offer service, is scheduled to go back into operation in January when America West Airlines commences four daily flights to Las Vegas.

Orange County leaders say the train would provide transportation for the small army of workers who commute daily to Orange County jobs from their homes in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, where housing is cheaper.

Tourism Boost

In addition, said Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth, an Anaheim terminus would boost tourism by encouraging vacationers to combine visits to Orange County, which attracts 34 millions tourists annually, with a trip to Las Vegas, which has 17 million visitors a year.

Roth, a former mayor of Anaheim and chief booster of the Orange County proposal, said “it’s tourism that will make the Anaheim proposal work, because it will provide the ridership. The commuter relief will be an extra benefit, although it’s an important one.”

Roth, a member of the bistate commission, said he is investigating whether an Anaheim-Las Vegas train might also ferry passengers to George Air Force Base in Victorville, which is slated to be closed within three years and might be converted to a civilian airport.

The base, located a few miles west of Interstate 15 and about 30 miles south of Barstow, “could be used to relieve John Wayne Airport and increase patronage on the train,” Roth said.

Palmdale’s Knight, acknowledging that Anaheim has the ridership edge, said proponents of the Palmdale route might have to take their case to the Legislature.

“Which is the greater need for Southern California?” he asked. “I think it’s commuter relief and relief at Los Angeles County airports.”

The bistate commission is scheduled to use its consultant’s report as a basis for selecting a route, possibly as early as its Oct. 27 meeting in Los Angeles.