Electrification Would Delay Rail 7-10 Years, Officials Say

If a proposed commuter rail line to link Ventura, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties were electrified, as Southern California Edison has suggested, rail service could be delayed from seven to 10 years, Ventura County transportation officials say.

Moreover, electrification of the 130-mile commuter rail network would also add millions of dollars to its cost, said Ginger Gherardi, executive director of the Ventura County Transportation Commission.

The line is scheduled to be operational by November, 1992, without electrification.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Gherardi said. “It seems to me that the most important thing right now is to get people out of their cars and into trains, instead of waiting 10 years.”

A study commissioned by Edison determined that commuter trains pulled by Diesel locomotives actually would create more pollution than all of the vehicles they are projected to take off the freeways. The California Transportation Commission was given copies of the study at its meeting in Los Angeles last week.

The Edison study confirmed that, compared to cars, the commuter trains would emit 90% less of one class of smog components, reactive organic gases. But the Diesel locomotives would double the amount of another pollutant, oxides of nitrogen.

Gherardi said she has had a chance to review a portion of the study and is not convinced of its findings.

“Their position is somewhat distorted,” she said. “The fact is that the trains will cut pollutants in half.”

Ventura County Supervisor Vicky Howard, a member of the county transportation commission, said she has not seen the Edison study but also is skeptical of its conclusions.

“I’m surprised,” Howard said. “I think we would almost have to do another study to make sure it’s accurate . . . and not self-serving.”

“It’s pretty obvious,” Gherardi said, why Edison would want the rail system to be electrified: It would be the line’s main supplier of power.

But Richard Schweinberger, manager of electric transportation research at Edison, said the company believes that its study is accurate.

“The benefits of electric trains are cleaner air and more energy efficiency,” Schweinberger said.

Edison plans to discuss the study’s findings in detail with the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and other government officials on Aug. 20, Schweinberger said.

The LACTC has been working with transit agencies in Ventura, San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties to put together a commuter rail network that will link the five counties.

Plans already have been approved for the first three segments to begin service in November of next year. Trains will run between Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to Moorpark in Ventura County, the Santa Clarita Valley and San Bernardino.

Schweinberger said Edison is “willing to explore the possibility” of sharing the cost of electrifying the 130-mile line linking the three counties. Once Edison got the go-ahead from the state Public Utilities Commission, it would take at least 24 months to electrify the rail system, he said.

But Gherardi said that estimate is “hopelessly optimistic.” She said it would take “seven to 10 years, at least.”

Electric locomotives would cost about $5 million each and take about five years to manufacture, compared to $1 million to $2 million for the Diesels that already are being built for the commuter line. The locomotives are expected to be delivered early next year.

The best solution, Gherardi and Howard said, would be to get the commuter trains running as soon as possible and electrify the system later.

“I don’t think we should delay any of this,” Howard said. “The sooner we start getting cars off the road the better off we’re going to be.”

Gherardi agreed. “I think all of us want the cleanest form of transportation possible, but I also think that something has to be done about the traffic problem as soon as possible,” Gherardi said.

“I think it’s a little late to be coming in here at the 11th hour with a new plan when there is already a well-conceived plan to get service started by next year,” she said.