Federal Act Could Help Fund Magnetic- Levitation Rail : Transportation: The President has approved $725 million to study the technology that may be used to propel trains between Palmdale and LAX.

A proposal to build a high-speed, magnetic-levitation rail line from Los Angeles International Airport to Palmdale may benefit from a $151-billion transportation act signed Wednesday by President Bush, county transportation officials said.

The Federal Surface Transportation Act, which Bush hopes will generate new jobs and help jump-start the economy, sets aside $725 million for magnetic-levitation research and development.

County transportation officials, who last year failed to win Caltrans backing for the 71.8-mile LAX-to-Palmdale line, were hoping for some of the federal funds Wednesday to support research and development. But they warned that the county will not necessarily get any of the money.

Competition from other local governments is expected to be stiff, and it is too early to tell if the LAX-to-Palmdale line meets the federal government’s conditions, said George Swede, manager of the project for the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.

Swede said he has not read the transportation act but that he remains optimistic. “I don’t know if I can qualify for it, but I’m interested,” he said. “I’m going for it.”

Swede said he has been told that Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-New York), the leading magnetic-levitation advocate in Congress, may seek funding for a project in his state.

“I know there is going to be a flood of projects” seeking funding, said Ian Thomas, a legislative assistant for the county Transportation Commission. But, he added, “We are going to do the best we can to make those funds available.”

The only money provided by the legislation that is certain to be spent in northern Los Angeles County is $3.6 million set aside for the initial design and engineering work on a $71-million interchange on the Antelope Valley Freeway at Avenue P-8 in Palmdale and widening of the avenue.

City officials hope to widen the road to eight lanes between the freeway and 50th Street in order to provide better access to Palmdale Air Terminal.

Advocates of the LAX-to-Palmdale line were disappointed last year when Caltrans passed up the project in favor of four proposed toll highways under a new state program that allows privately owned transportation projects on public land.

The line, on which trains would be propelled as fast as 125 m.p.h. by electromagnetic force on a cushion of air, was designated as an alternative, to be selected only if one of the highway projects falters.

Caltrans officials said they ranked the line below the other projects because high operating costs might have to be subsidized by government agencies, and it was therefore uncertain whether it truly was a private project.

After the state’s rejection, the county Transportation Commission began to solicit proposals from private firms to finance, design and construct the rail system.

Swede said five firms are expected to complete proposals for the project by April. He said he and other county and Los Angeles city transportation officials are discussing plans to pay for the project.

A spokesman for Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee and a strong supporter of the project, said he was cautiously optimistic about the prospect of federal funding.

John Stevens, a Katz staff member, said it is unclear whether the LAX-to-Palmdale project meets the primary goal of the legislation--to promote the development of new magnetic-levitation technology.

Five private firms have already begun to draft proposals for the project, Stevens said, and it is uncertain whether the companies will invest in the new magnetic-levitation project or simply design the line based on current technology.

“I’m not really sure yet how these funds will be available and in what amount,” he said. “But naturally, we are excited about having some dough here in the United States to provide for this technology.”

Magnetic-levitation supporters have said the United States lags behind Japan and Germany, which have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the technology in the past 20 years.