Palmdale Super-Train Bid Doomed Without Public Aid, Experts Say : Public Funds Called Crucial to Palmdale Super-Train

Super-speed trains that can transport passengers at up to 200 m.p.h. and reduce traffic congestion--like the one proposed between Palmdale and Los Angeles International Airport--will never become a reality without substantial government funding, a group of top high-speed rail experts asserted Thursday.

The “private money only” philosophy has influenced planning for both the Palmdale magnetic levitation train and the apparently failed proposal for a similar high-speed rail link between Anaheim and Las Vegas.

But the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission is moving ahead with plans for the $4-billion, privately financed, high-speed rail system between the Los Angeles airport and Palmdale. The LACTC’s Rail Construction Corp. plans to discuss the project at its meeting today.

“The point is, we don’t know” whether such a system could be built solely with private funds, said Sharon Neely, the commission’s director of transportation policy. “That’s why we want to explore it.”

At a press conference in Washington, Joseph Vranich, a consultant to the High Speed Rail Assn. and author of a new book on high-speed rail systems, said that “aviation and highways are heavily, heavily subsidized.

“How could you expect somebody to build a high-speed train line,” he asked, and tell them, “you do it all with private money, and you have to compete against these subsidized systems?”

In Los Angeles, John Stevens, an aide to Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), agreed in part with Vranich, saying the initial stage of such a project will need help. Katz chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee and has been a strong supporter of the LAX-to-Palmdale line.

But Stevens also said the private sector should be given an opportunity to come up with innovative alternatives to a largely publicly subsidized rail project.

“We believe it’s possible,” he said.

Stevens said about a half dozen private companies are drafting proposals to the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission to build the LAX-Palmdale line. The companies have also been asked to propose ways to fund the project without tax money, he said.

He said the county is providing a significant subsidy to the LAX-Palmdale project by providing the property right-of-ways for the line, which will be given to the firm eventually chosen to build the project.

George Swede, the commission’s project manager for the LAX-Palmdale line, said he recently met with city officials in Palmdale and Lancaster to try to persuade them to pledge their share of future Proposition A funds to help pay for the line. The funds come from a sales tax increase passed by the voters for transportation purposes.

He said the city officials were supportive of the project but said they could not pledge the money.

The National Research Council, the working arm of the National Academy of Sciences, said in a November report that high-speed trains are feasible, but unlikely to attract enough riders to become self-supporting.

The Federal Surface Transportation Act, signed by President Bush last month in hopes of generating new jobs, sets aside $725 million for magnetic levitation research and development. But competition for the money is expected to be stiff and it is unclear whether the LAX-Palmdale line qualifies, Los Angeles transportation officials have said.

Others at the press conference said Japanese and European firms, with the aid of their governments, have built successful rail systems. In addition to reducing congestion, super trains are significantly cleaner than automobiles or airplanes, supporters contend.

The $5 million Anaheim-Las Vegas project, which was to have been built wholly with private funds, ran into trouble after Bechtel Corp., the contractor designated to build it, was unable to secure financing. The giant construction company withdrew in October, after paying $500,000 for the franchise to the California-Nevada Super Speed Ground Transportation Commission.

Robert W. Stewart reported from Washington and Hugo Martin from Chatsworth.