Lawmakers Press Santa Fe to Complete Deal for Track

A platoon of 24 members of California’s congressional delegation suggested in a letter sent to Santa Fe Railroad on Monday that they would legislatively punish the firm if it does not soon come to terms with officials seeking to buy Santa Fe track for a commuter line in Southern California.

“If the current stalemate continues,” the one-page letter concludes, somewhat vaguely, but ominously, “important public policy will be thwarted and alternative solutions to this problem will be sought.”

The “alternative solutions” were neither spelled out nor hinted at. But sources close to the drafting of the letter said it was meant to imply that legislation favored by Santa Fe would be given a hard time by delegation members.

The letter opens the latest round of a bare-knuckles brawl between Santa Fe and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, which is negotiating with the railroad on behalf of a five-county commuter-rail authority. The commission has publicly accused Santa Fe of “train robbery in reverse” for its $1.3 billion asking price for the track.

The remarkably bipartisan letter from the 24 members of the state’s 45-member delegation was signed by such liberal Los Angeles County Democrats as Henry A. Waxman, Howard L. Berman and Anthony C. Bielenson, as well as such conservative Orange County Republicans as Robert K. Dornan, Christopher Cox and William E. Dannemeyer.

Santa Fe officials could not be reached late Monday for comment. But in the past they have said they are asking only fair market value for the property.

Santa Fe’s asking price for the 173 miles of track is considerably more than the $450 million paid last year for Southern Pacific’s 175 miles. The commission has offered $300 million.

Both sides are under pressure to reach a deal soon. The commission has promised to start the commuter service in November, 1992.