Futuristic, High-Speed L.A.-Palmdale Train Considered

A private partnership is considering submitting a bid to build a 280 m.p.h. magnetic-levitation train system from Los Angeles International Airport through the San Fernando Valley to Palmdale, serving commuters, airport-bound travelers and gamblers headed to Las Vegas.

The futuristic line, which would be built along the San Diego, Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways, was endorsed Thursday by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

Bradley press spokesman Bill Chandler said the mayor views the proposed line as a “means to allow thousands and thousands of commuters on the congested 405 and 14 freeways to utilize rail transit.”

The proposal also could save the city’s long-shot bid to be connected to a proposed Las Vegas-to-Anaheim magnetic-levitation system, said Clifton Moore, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Airports.

“This sounds like what we have been waiting for--a way to open up Palmdale Airport,” Moore said, adding that he will urge the city Board of Aiport Commissioners to endorse the plan at its meeting Wednesday because it offers long-sought relief for congestion at Los Angeles International Airport.

But submission of the proposal, which faces formidable financial, technological and political hurdles, is “far from a sure thing,” said a top executive at Perini Corp., the Framingham, Mass.-based construction firm that heads the consortium studying whether to submit a bid for a 65-mile LAX-to-Palmdale line.

The plan was developed in response to a state program to encourage private construction of transportation facilities approved by the Legislature last year.

Legislators authorized the state Department of Transportation to select up to four projects in which commercial firms would build and operate highways, tunnels, bridges or rail lines.

Caltrans, which will provide the right of way without charge, will own the projects but the firms building them will lease back the facilities for up to 35 years and will keep all tolls or fees.

In January, Caltrans selected nine companies and partnerships it deemed qualified to make bids. The selections included Perini and several other major construction firms.

Proposals are due Aug. 1 and Caltrans expects to select the top four candidates by Sept. 17.

Henry Cygan, Perini’s manager of product development, said Thursday that the consortium is “withholding a decision to submit or not submit until the last minute.”

He said no ridership studies have been completed. But he said his firm has concluded that “three types of riders would use the line in significant numbers.” These were identified as work-bound commuters, those headed to LAX or Palmdale Airport and those transferring flights from one airport to another, and travelers to and from Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas passengers would transfer in Palmdale to trains on the 41-mile Victor Valley-to-Palmdale spur off the proposed 265-mile Las Vegas-to-Anaheim system.

Bechtel Corp. heads a consortium that on Monday proposed building a $5-billion magnetic-levitation line between the gambling mecca and Orange County that would largely follow the right of way of Interstate 15.

The proposal is being evaluated by the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission. The commission was created by the legislatures in the two states to stimulate construction by a private firm of such a line by offering the right of way without charge.

Los Angeles officials, including Bradley, expressed disappointment the Bechtel proposal gave a low priority to the Palmdale spur, which they view as the key to expanded use of Palmdale Airport.

At speeds up to 280 m.p.h., the Las Vegas-Anaheim trip would take little more than an hour, Bechtel officials say.

Bechtel envisions using magnetic-levitation technology now being tested on a 20-mile track in West Germany. That technology, however, has not entered commercial service.

Magnetic-levitation systems use a magnetic field to propel trains forward and to elevate them one to four inches above an elevated guideway.

Bechtel officials say a magnetic-levitation train at 250 m.p.h. generates less noise than a single automobile at freeway speed.

Perini’s Cygan said his firm and partners Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall have not decided whether to use German or Japanese magnetic-levitation technology, but that they “have pretty much ruled out monorail, light-rail and heavy rail. Those just don’t have the speed or environmental benefits of mag-lev.”