Old Rails Carry New Hopes for the Commuters : Transportation: A deal with Southern Pacific clears the way for seven trains to carry up to 8,400 passengers downtown. The lines would originate in Moorpark and Santa Clarita.

As the San Fernando Valley mushroomed into one of the nation’s largest suburbs following World War II, few took note of the century-old railroad tracks that gradually became engulfed by housing tracts, freeways and commercial strips.

But during the past decade, with freeways gridlocked and still more traffic headed this way, transit planners began to covet the ribbons of rail built in the 1870s by Southern Pacific Railroad.

As a result, all three Southern Pacific Transportation Co. lines in the Valley were included in the recently announced agreement under which the railroad will sell the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission 175 miles of right of way for $450 million.

The sale, expected to be completed in about six months, will clear the way for commuter trains to operate on two of the Valley lines--with one train route originating in Moorpark in Ventura County and the other in Santa Clarita.

County transit planners envision seven trains crossing the Valley each morning laden with commuters headed for Union Station downtown. The trains would return during the evening rush hours. The third Valley route purchased has been earmarked for a planned Metro Rail subway extension from North Hollywood to the San Diego Freeway.

The trains are expected to begin running by September or October, 1992.

But commuter trains, which use equipment similar to that used by Amtrak, are a far cry from the high-capacity mass transit system that Valley elected officials say is needed to take a bite out of congestion.

Even if all seven trains are filled to capacity, they will carry only 8,400 passengers a day. By contrast, the Ventura Freeway alone handles 270,000 vehicles daily and the downtown-to-North Hollywood Metro Rail subway is expected to carry 300,000 passengers a day. Even the Metro Rail extension from North Hollywood to the San Diego Freeway has a projected daily ridership of 40,000.

Nonetheless, said Richard Stanger, the commission’s director of rail development, “We expect the trains to be popular and they will give residents a taste of rail transit.”

Four of the planned 600-passenger commuter trains will originate in Moorpark, 45 miles from downtown, and stop at Simi Valley, Chatsworth, Northridge, Van Nuys, Burbank and Glendale, before ending up at Union Station, said Gray Crary, commission rail planner. Three will start in Santa Clarita, 25 miles from downtown, and will pick up and discharge passengers in San Fernando, Burbank and Glendale on the way to Los Angeles.

Riders will be transported by 17 new locomotives and 40 new two-level passenger cars that are being purchased for the two Valley lines and for a line from San Bernardino to downtown that also is scheduled to begin operating in 1992.

Rail experts say the newer-generation engines are faster, quieter and cleaner than older ones and that the cars are spacious and plushly outfitted.

Fares will be about 10 cents a mile each way, resulting in a one-way fare of about $4.50 from Moorpark to downtown, $2.50 from Santa Clarita to downtown and $6 from San Bernardino to downtown. Monthly ticket books will be about 40% less than one-way fares.

“We think commuter rail is going to be a success,” said Stanger. “It’s true that it has a low capacity, but it’s low investment too, and we feel we have three corridors where it is ideally suited.”

The Moorpark train will travel on the Coast Main Line which begins in the Pacific Northwest, traverses Ventura County and crosses the Valley diagonally from Chatsworth to Burbank. The Santa Clarita train travels on the San Joaquin Line which connects Los Angeles and the Central Valley.

The two lines join at Burbank, go south along Glendale’s western border and end at Union Station.

Both lines will continue to carry freight trains, and the Coast Main Line also will continue to be used by intercity Amtrak passenger trains, said Andy Anderson, Southern Pacific spokesman.

Commuter trains can carry only a fraction of the riders because their equipment is vastly different from that used by light-rail systems such as the Los Angeles-Long Beach Blue Line and the under-construction Metro Rail subway, the Red Line.

Commuter trains are towed by diesel engines with a top speed of nearly 80 m.p.h., but they accelerate and decelerate much more slowly than the electrically-powered Blue and Red line trains.

Consequently, commuter rail stations are placed about five miles apart, while Blue and Red Line stations are about one mile apart.

“If you had to start and stop every mile with one of these diesel engines you would never get up much speed,” said Stanger.

In addition, commuter rail cars, like Amtrak cars, require passengers to climb aboard, which lengthens stop times; by contrast, Blue and Red line cars are designed to allow passengers to step quickly off platforms level with the car floor.

Also, existing train tracks are not equipped with the computerized signal equipment that will allow Blue and Red line trains to travel within three minutes of each other in the same direction.

Crary said that the “ultimate goal is to have commuter trains every 20 minutes during rush hours, but that is probably quite some time off.”

Commuter rail’s limitations make it unattractive for short trips, which are the mainstay of a mass transit system. But for those traveling to downtown from distant suburbs, it’s an attractive alternative to a bus or automobile, Crary said.

The third Valley line involved in the transaction is the little-used Burbank Branch freight line that crosses the Valley roughly parallel to Chandler and Victory boulevards.

Unlike the other two Valley lines, along which the commission is buying track rights and about half of the right of way for possible future use, the agreement between the commission and Southern Pacific regarding the 20-mile freight-only line calls for it to be sold outright.

About six miles of the Burbank Branch line from North Hollywood to the San Diego Freeway has been earmarked for an extension of the downtown-to-North Hollywood Metro Rail subway. Construction is scheduled to begin in 1997 and be completed in 2001, at the same time that the stretch of the subway from downtown to North Hollywood is finished.

In voting last March to build the six-mile extension in lieu of other east-west Valley rail options, commissioners said they would condemn the right of way if the railroad moved to sell it to another entity.