‘Maglev’ First Phase Cost Put at $1 Billion

Officials of a business consortium that proposes to build an 80-m.p.h. magnetic levitation rail line from Los Angeles International Airport to Palmdale said Friday that the first phase of the line, from the airport to Santa Clarita, would cost “a little in excess of $1 billion.”

The estimate, from John E. Chiaverini, senior vice president of the Perini Corp., represented a change from the consortium’s refusal earlier to discuss the costs of the project, the first phase of which could be completed by 1997.

The proposed “maglev” line must first receive the approval of Caltrans, which is scheduled Sept. 14 to choose four of eight transportation projects proposed by private firms. The projects would receive gifts from the state of right of way, but all planning, construction and operating costs would be paid with private funds.

The airport-to-Palmdale line is the only rail project among the eight proposed. All of the others involve highway construction.

An outside expert had estimated this week that the rail line would cost in the neighborhood of $2 billion.

Chiaverini said the consortium of Perini, the HSST Corp. and the Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall firm had not yet developed, in its detailed proposal to the state Department of Transportation, any estimate of what fares would be along the first phase through the West Side and the San Fernando Valley into the Santa Clarita Valley.

But he said one part of the proposal suggests that some of the capital for the project could come from leasing or selling air space above the trains’ guideway. It is expected that the guideway would be built mainly along the San Diego Freeway.

The proposal has won the endorsement of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, whose press secretary, Bill Chandler, said Friday that the mayor is not worried that fares will be too high. Any private firm that hopes to make such a service pay for itself will have to keep fares low enough to attract large numbers of people, Chandler said.