Panel OKs $150 Million for Metro Rail

In a move that delighted Los Angeles officials, a Senate-House conference committee approved $150 million in funding Tuesday for continued construction of the Metro Rail Red Line between Union Station and the San Fernando Valley.

The funds are contained in a compromise $30-billion transportation appropriations bill for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Both houses of Congress are expected to ratify the legislation by next week.

“We are very grateful for the continuing strong congressional support for Metro Rail, even in this difficult budgetary climate,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman, who heads the county’s Transportation Commission.

Metro Rail received all but $25 million of the sum requested from Congress for proceeding with construction of the second segment of the Red Line, stretching from the Wilshire-Alvarado area to Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.

The $150 million in federal funds will be matched by state and local money, principally by proceeds from the half-cent sales tax enacted through Proposition A in 1981.