High-Speed Train Backers to Seek Proposals From Builders

Requests for proposals to build a $5- to $7-billion high-speed train between Anaheim and Las Vegas will be mailed to companies this week, according to Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth.

Roth, the vice chairman of a bistate commission responsible for selecting a company to build the train, said Friday that among the companies receiving the forms will be the West German firm TransRapid and the San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp. Companies will have until Jan. 24 to submit a $5,000 non-refundable filing fee, along with a letter of intent expressing interest in the project.

Roth said the California-Nevada commission will require an additional $495,000 on July 15, along with a proposal. He said most of the $495,000 will be refunded if the commission does not select the company’s proposal.

On Wednesday, Roth will mail copies of the requests to several multinational consortiums. That same day, Las Vegas City Councilman Arnie Adamsen, chairman of the bistate commission, will deliver a copy to representatives of TransRapid, which builds a magnetically powered train, and Bechtel, an international construction giant.

After a promotional battle of sorts, the panel--formally called the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission--selected Anaheim in October as the Southern California terminus rather than a location in Los Angeles County.

A report earlier this year contended that a high-speed train between Anaheim and the gambling capital would draw 6.5 million round-trip passengers annually. By contrast, the report said, a line between Las Vegas and the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County would generate only 2.3 million passengers a year.

The train system, the brainchild of the Las Vegas casino interests, would be privately financed and owned. It could employ either the West German magnetic levitation or French high-speed rail technology, authorities have said.

The high-speed train’s terminal in Anaheim probably would be built near Anaheim Stadium. Roth, a former Anaheim mayor, has suggested the station be built on a 17.4-acre site next to the existing Amtrak station and behind the stadium. The site is now used by county flood control officials and has a maintenance and repair shop.

When Anaheim was selected as the terminus in October, Roth predicted that the rail system would be “a big boost for our tourism industry, and more importantly . . . a financially sound system.”

A consultant on the project has predicted that the train will create between 24,000 and 53,000 jobs, most of them in Southern California. But the consultant projected a jump in auto traffic on the streets near the Anaheim station from 9,700 trips on most days up to 31,000 trips on “peak Sundays.”