City Will Help Fund Right-of-Way Purchase
The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to participate in the $1.14-million purchase of a two-mile railroad right of way along Chandler Boulevard that could link a Metro Rail station to a commuter rail line terminal in Burbank.
By a 14-0 vote, the council approved spending $143,000 in city transit funds to purchase the Southern Pacific railroad line, although no firm plan yet exists to make use of it.
“But it’s on the market now, and if we don’t buy it, someone else may,” said Ed Rowe, general manager of the city’s Department of Transportation. “Besides, our investment is small, and if property values continue the way they have, it’ll be worth more in the future anyway.”
The two-mile stretch along Chandler between Victory Boulevard in Burbank and Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, for example, could be used to link the Burbank Transit Center for the planned Santa Clarita-Moorpark commuter line to the Metro Rail Station planned for North Hollywood, Rowe said.
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