Big Subsidy May Imperil Construction of Rail Line : Transit: Public assistance for the LAX-to-Palmdale line would conflict with the goal of privatizing such projects, state officials say.

State officials warned Tuesday that prospects for a proposed high-speed rail line between Los Angeles International Airport and Palmdale could be hampered if its private backers end up needing a large subsidy from Los Angeles County and other local governments.

The warnings came after the proponents of the 69-mile, multibillion dollar system disclosed Monday that they no longer believe the project can be entirely privately financed, as they originally predicted. The consortium planning the train asked and got county transit officials Monday to agree to consider a public subsidy.

Any large public contribution would conflict with the project’s role in a state program intended to demonstrate that mass-transit and highway projects can be carried out by private businesses, said Carl Williams, an assistant director of the state Department of Transportation.

And state Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who had been a strong backer of the rail project, said he was surprised and disturbed to learn that its backers are now seeking a public subsidy. “I think it’s premature to talk about public funding,” Katz said.

The proposed rail line is one of eight projects statewide submitted to Caltrans as part of an experi mental state privatization program. It is the only one from Los Angeles County. The program’s rules forbid the use of state or federal funds for the projects, but do allow local government contributions.

Caltrans is expected to approve four projects in mid-September. Williams, who is in charge of the program, said a small percentage of local funding would not harm a project’s chances of approval but, “If it gets to the point where the local contribution is the main contribution, we’d start to worry about that.”

Neither county transportation officials nor executives of the private companies backing the train proposal would specify Tuesday just how much public funding might be necessary. But one county official said Monday that the bill could reach $100 million a year.

A consortium led by the Perini Corp. of Framingham, Mass., has said it could have the line’s first $1-billion segment--36 miles from the airport to Santa Clarita--built and operating by 1997. The second, 33-mile segment from Santa Clarita to Palmdale would be built later. No cost estimate for the second leg has been made public.

The consortium has proposed running the train along the state-owned rights of way of the San Diego, Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways. The electrically powered system would use futuristic magnetic levitation technology to reach speeds up to 100 m.p.h.

A panel of the county’s Transportation Commission on Monday agreed to explore public funding for the rail project after the consortium reduced ridership projections for the line’s first segment from about 100,000 riders a day to about 55,000.

The full Transportation Commission is scheduled to consider the issue Aug. 22. But commission Executive Director Neil Peterson said Tuesday that county officials, while exploring a public subsidy, could also help advise the train’s backers on ways the project still might be entirely privately financed.

County Supervisor Ed Edelman, chairman of the commission, said he too was surprised by the request for public funding. Edelman said he would be skeptical about giving the project public funds because the commission has already given priority to funding for many other rail projects. And Katz, who chairs the state Assembly’s Transportation Committee, said he did not think that local funds could be spent under the state’s program.

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