3rd Train Added Between L.A. and Santa Barbara : Transit: Amtrak and Caltrans hope that the latest run will lead to more communter rail service throughout the Southland.

Bands played, politicians and transportation officials urged people to leave their automobiles behind and scores of travel agents were the honored guests Monday as more frequent train service began between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

Caltrans and Amtrak used the occasion of the addition of a third daily train each way to express hope for a series of expansions that will bring intercity and commuter rail service throughout the Southland by 1995.

By that time, if voter-approved bonds are well-spent and localities ante up a share, there could be regular commuter service to San Bernardino, Riverside, Santa Clarita, Moorpark and San Juan Capistrano, and more frequent service to San Diego and Santa Barbara, with perhaps some extensions to Goleta.

“Contrary to popular belief, Caltrans loves trains,” said Jack Maloney, chief deputy director of Caltrans, at a series of ceremonies along the Santa Barbara route Monday. “We will work to add trains not only in this corridor but in all transportation corridors that can use them.”

As the new service wended its way north, legislators and city council members hailed it, saying the trains will reduce traffic congestion and be kinder to the environment than automobiles.

Because Amtrak gives preference to long-distance travelers--and the daily Coast Starlight to Seattle is heavily booked--reservations between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara on the 9:55 a.m. train often have been unavailable. The same has been true of the late-afternoon run.

But space is expected to be ample on the new morning train, which departs Los Angeles at 8:20 and arrives in Santa Barbara at 10:55. The return leaves Santa Barbara at 3:25 p.m. and arrives in Los Angeles at 6.

Another train, begun in 1988, leaves Los Angeles at 8 p.m., arriving in Santa Barbara at 10:30 p.m. The returning train departs Santa Barbara at 7:50 each morning and arrives in Los Angeles at 10:30 a.m. All trains continue to and from San Diego as part of Amtrak’s San Diegan service.

Stops between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara are at Glendale, the Burbank airport, Van Nuys, Chatsworth, Simi Valley and Oxnard. A stop also will be made in Ventura, when a new station there is finished. Concrete platforms at many of the existing stops will be improved or converted into regular stations for commuter service, expected to begin in two or three years.

Not all the stations along the route had new schedules posted Monday, and there were fewer than 50 paying passengers in the regular cars to accompany a total of several hundred Caltrans guests in free cars.

But Ron Scolaro, an Amtrak administrator, joined Caltrans officials in predicting relatively quick financial success for the new train, whose start-up costs are being paid by the state. The next probable Amtrak service expansion is a ninth daily train each way between Los Angeles and San Diego, he said.

He said the new service could have started earlier had it not been for a shortage of cars and locomotives. Some have been borrowed from Amtrak’s Eastern pool until newly ordered cars and locomotives are delivered here.

At the ceremony in Santa Barbara, City Council and Chamber of Commerce representatives said they now will try to sell a daily excursion to the city. Tourists arriving on the early train will have five hours to enjoy the beaches, restaurants and other attractions here before the last train returns to Los Angeles.

Paying passengers Monday generally expressed enthusiasm about the new Santa Barbara service.

Alexander Amaro of Oceanside said he will be able to commute much faster each Monday from his home to his job in Simi Valley. He returns home on Friday and has been using a bus between Simi Valley and Los Angeles.

Monday, however, Amaro left Oceanside at 5:56 a.m. and arrived in Simi Valley a little past the 9:30 scheduled time. He works just two blocks away from the train platform that local authorities contributed $100,000 to build a few years ago.

Mark Armstrong, a counselor at UC Santa Barbara, was there to share in the spectacle.

“A train is the great American historical event,” he said. “I’ve been watching the commercials, and I just didn’t want to miss this.”

Cathryn Bonnette, a Glendale pastor, said the new train will make scheduling her regular Santa Barbara trips much easier. Bonnette, who is blind, was on the train with her guide dog.