Transit Groups Bid for Rail Rights of Way : Transportation: The future holds more options for commuters if the talks lead to action, but both sides remain far apart on price.

Southern California transit agencies and the Santa Fe Railway have begun swapping figures in an attempt to reach a multimillion-dollar deal to purchase rail rights of way for commuter and intercity travel.

However, former state Sen. Jim Mills, who heads the Metropolitan Transit Development Board and the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency board of directors, said transit negotiators and Santa Fe officials are “far apart” on the price.

In San Diego County, commuter train service is planned along Santa Fe tracks between Oceanside and San Diego by early 1993, and between Oceanside and Escondido by 1995. Train service between San Diego and Los Angeles also is scheduled to be upgraded to allow commuters to use rail transit for their morning and evening commutes.

Santa Fe officials confirmed Wednesday that railroad negotiators had met with a number of Southern California agencies Aug. 15 to discuss purchase of the Santa Fe right of way from Fullerton south to San Diego, but stressed that the railway was not interested in selling its lines north into Los Angeles or in allowing greatly increased rail traffic on that segment of the line.

“It was a very friendly meeting to discuss areas of mutual interest,” said Robert Gehrt, Santa Fe vice president for public relations. “We are hopeful we can work out an arrangement that will be agreeable to all parties concerned.

“We are hopeful that there will be additional meetings from time to time.”

Neither Santa Fe’s Gehrt nor MTDB general manager Tom Larwin would reveal appraisal prices or offers made for the railroad right-of-way.

Jointly negotiating with the Chicago-based railroad line are LOSSAN (Los Angeles-San Diego), the umbrella agency coordinating passenger service on the rail corridor between the two cities; San Diego’s MTDB, which controls transit in southern San Diego County; the North (San

Diego) County Transit District; the San Diego Assn. of Governments; the Orange County Transportation Commission and the Los Angeles Transportation Commission.

Larwin said the transit agencies banded together in joint negotiations because it was felt “we could negotiate from a stronger position jointly.” However, he added, “if the interests of the individual agencies differ, they may drop out and negotiate separately.”

Mills said that LOSSAN has hired a consultant, Bob Banks, to represent the agency in negotiations and to help appraise the railroad right of way.

He said that Santa Fe wanted to appraise by the “over-the-fence” method, which uses the value of the adjacent land as if the tracks could be converted to industrial use or ocean-view building lots. Transit groups were seeking to use an appraisal method that would base the value on the actual, approved use of the land.

The appraisal figures compiled by the railroad and by the transit appraisers vary widely, Mills said, and the two sides’ estimates of the value of the rail line “are far apart.” A joint offer made by the rail agencies was not accepted by Santa Fe negotiators, he said.

But Mills was not pessimistic about reaching agreement because, he pointed out, Santa Fe first broached the idea of selling its Fullerton-San Diego tracks to the counties and transit agencies interested in starting passenger lines to relieve freeway congestion.

Santa Fe also is in need of cash to pay a major judgment in a suit it lost over a pipeline project. The award against Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp., the parent company of Santa Fe Railway, totaled about $750 million in actual and punitive damages when a Texas court found that the corporation and other railroads conspired to delay, hinder or stop construction of a 1,700-mile pipeline to carry coal slurry--a mixture of coal and water which can be transported long distances by pipeline. Coal now is transported almost exclusively by rail.

“Now we have the money to deal, and they have the need for cash, I would think that we could come to some sort of a meeting of the minds,” Mills said.

He noted that propositions 116 and 108, approved by voters last June, contained considerable funds for mass transit and commuter systems. San Diego County also has an added half-cent sales tax levy earmarked for road and transit projects.