Countywide : Utilities Offer to Pay for Rail Electrifying

The environmental debate over the planned use of pollution-spewing diesel locomotives on Southland commuter trains continued Thursday, with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Southern California Edison Co. offering to help pay the enormous cost of electrifying the entire rail system.

Orange County officials repeated warnings that electrification, although desirable, could delay the county’s scheduled 1993 expansion of commuter rail service.

The offer by Edison and DWP to provide the capital for electrification surfaced at Thursday’s meeting of the California Transportation Commission in Newport Beach. The state panel is being asked to approve the purchase by the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission of rail equipment and rights of way with money from state rail bonds, and some commission members are pressing for immediate electrification, which is standard throughout Europe.

Although Orange County is planning to expand commuter rail service, it has left most equipment decisions to the Los Angeles commission, which has been ordering diesel locomotives for all counties that are members of a regional rail authority.

The debate over the best source of rail power began two months ago, when Edison estimated that diesel locomotives would produce more nitrogen oxide pollution in the South Coast air basin than motorists would if they never left their cars to fill new commuter trains.

L.A. County Transportation Commission officials strongly dispute Edison’s data but acknowledge that nitrogen oxide emissions would worsen with diesel locomotives in the short term, until large numbers of commuters switch to trains. Such emissions are a key ingredient of smog and the most difficult to control, state officials said.

Many rail advocates argue that electrification is needed but should not delay the scheduled start of commuter rail service.

Two state transportation commission members--Jerry B. Epstein and Ken Kevorkian, both of Los Angeles--argued Thursday that delays would frustrate voters who recently passed county sales tax measures in Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties to pay for rail projects. They also noted that new tax proposals for transportation are expected on ballots in the next few years.

The Edison-DWP offer is dependent partly on state Public Utility Commission granting applications for rate increases to be paid by consumers in each utility’s service territory. One estimate put the rate hike at about 56 cents per month, per customer.