Rail Project Stalled by Haggling : Transportation: $1 billion separates Santa Fe and transit officials in negotiations for tracks for commuter lines.

Efforts to expand commuter train service between Los Angeles and Orange counties and extend it into San Bernardino and Riverside are stalled because government officials and the Santa Fe railroad cannot agree on the value of 242 miles of track, both sides said Friday.

Officials from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties Friday accused Santa Fe of attempting a “train robbery in reverse” by demanding $1.3 billion--more than the price of all the company’s stock--for only 2% of its track.

Santa Fe Railway Vice President Robert Edwards shot back that the company’s initial offer was just that--”an initial offer . . . not a demand”--and was based on comparable sales of other railroad rights of way that government agencies had chosen for comparison.

The gap between the two sides is enormous. Including Ventura County, the five counties that compose the regional train agency have offered $300 million for the 242 miles of track. Santa Fe has offered to sell the track for $1.3 billion--if it can keep the mineral rights, lay cables and pipelines underground and build structures overhead.

At stake are key elements of the region’s proposed commuter rail system, including tracks from San Diego through Orange County to Union Station, as well as track from San Bernardino and Riverside to Anaheim. Also at stake is track from San Bernardino to Los Angeles that parallels track being bought from Southern Pacific.

Commuter rail officials agreed last fall to buy 174 miles of track from Southern Pacific Railroad for $450 million. In addition to the line from Union Station to San Bernardino, it includes track to Santa Monica, northwest through the San Fernando Valley to Moorpark, and to the Santa Clarita Valley.

The Southern Pacific deal, also the product of difficult negotiations, is not threatened by the impasse between transportation officials and Santa Fe.

Neil Peterson, executive director of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, said negotiations for the track have stopped, but both sides stress that the talks have not formally been severed.

“We haven’t broken off negotiations,” said Peterson, whose agency has been selected by the five counties to acquire the railroad rights of way, “but we have told them we don’t see the point of continuing negotiations if they’re not going to be reasonable.”

Edwards said his railroad, which publicly supports commuter trains, is reasonable, but must balance the public good with its fiduciary responsibilities. “We are prepared to sell our lines as long as we can fairly justify the price to our 150,000 shareholders,” he said.

Setting aside the question of mineral and other property rights, Peterson said Santa Fe’s offer is about $5.3 million a mile for track in urban areas. This, he said, is nearly four times the $1.4 million a mile that will be paid to Southern Pacific.

Long Beach City Councilman Ray Grabinski called the offer “a train robbery in reverse.”

“We’re not going to take public dollars and throw them in the pockets of the railroads,” said Grabinski, a member of the transit commission. “The public has said it wants this system and is willing to pay for it, but the public won’t be blackmailed.”

Edwards said the Southern Pacific comparison is invalid because of the different quality of track.

“What they acquired from Southern Pacific is totally different from what they want to acquire from Santa Fe,” he said. “Some of (the SP lines) were right of way only, no track; some were abandoned or low-speed lines. Ours are almost all high-speed lines, well-maintained assets that carry freight traffic as well as 22 Amtrak lines a day.”