Metrolink Expected to Debut on Time : Transit: Commuter rail costs have been less than anticipated. The regional service to downtown L. A. will open in October, officials say.

Start-up costs for Metrolink, the regional commuter rail service, are running under budget, and service on the first three lines should begin on schedule in October despite disagreements with Santa Fe Railway Co. over the use of key track segments, regional officials said Tuesday.

However, Southern California Regional Rail Authority leaders told the state transportation commission in Oakland that service on the “San Bernardino Line” will extend east only as far as Pomona because of conflicts with Santa Fe.

Santa Fe and the rail authority have been negotiating for months over a sale or lease of the freight railway’s tracks to San Bernardino and San Diego. Sources said the two sides are close to agreement, but may not seal a deal in time to avoid delaying service to San Bernardino.

In addition, nine of the initial 13 stations will not be completed when locomotives arrive with the first double-decked cars. Most are expected to accommodate passengers anyway--offering temporary park-and-ride lots--but some, such as Cal State Los Angeles, will not open for months after service starts.

A successful premiere in October is important to regional transportation officials because voters will be asked early in November to approve a second series of state bonds to expand commuter and intercity rail service throughout the state.

Bonds approved by voters in 1990 made possible the opening of the first three commuter rail lines, between Los Angeles’ Union Station and Moorpark in Ventura County, Santa Clarita, and, ultimately, San Bernardino. The bonds also are being used to pay for new train service in Northern California and the San Joaquin Valley.

November’s bonds, along with a third series to come up for voter approval in 1994, will let rail authority officials complete a six-county network of long-distance commuter service connecting Los Angeles with Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and San Diego counties.

Commuter trains, unlike trolleys and subways, are designed for long commutes. Double-decked cars pulled by low-pollution locomotives operate on surface tracks with stations spaced widely apart. The lines would be similar to Amtrak’s popular San Diegan service through Orange County to Los Angeles.

Indeed, Amtrak has been hired to run the Metrolink service. Contract terms, with eastbound service limited to track owned by the rail authority that ends in Pomona, were approved last week by the agency’s board of directors. Amtrak will be paid a variable percentage of operating cost, depending on the amount and efficiency of the service provided.

The service scheduled to start in October is targeted exclusively to commuters. The trains, using low-floor cars designed for easy access by people in wheelchairs, are to travel into Union Station in the morning, lay over downtown during the day, and return from Los Angeles at night. There will be no mid-day or reverse-commute service, although that may eventually be added.

The first of the double-decked, Canadian-built passenger cars is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles in April. The first locomotives are due in June.

Five trains will make the daily run from Pomona--or San Bernardino, when that is possible. Four will leave at regular intervals each morning from Moorpark. Three will shuttle down from Santa Clarita.

Service, in particular along the Moorpark and Santa Clarita lines, will be limited at first by delays in station construction. Only a third of all Metrolink stations--those in El Monte, Covina, Pomona and Moorpark--are scheduled to be finished by October, said Gray Crary, a rail authority planner.

Five other stations--Glendale, Burbank, Sylmar, Santa Clarita and Simi Valley--will be open, he said, but construction may not be complete.

Temporary parking lots, for example, may be set up some distance from the station while the permanent lot is acquired or paved, he said.

Meanwhile, the remaining four stations--Cal State Los Angeles, Baldwin Park, Van Nuys and Chatsworth--may not be able to open at all by October, Crary said, although their availability may improve as work progresses over the summer.

Station construction contracts awarded so far, totaling $118 million, are 22% under budget, SCRRA rail authority officials said.

Commuter Trains on Track

Long-distance commuter train service, similar to Amtrak service between Los Angeles and San Diego, is under budget and on schedule for an October start. However, conflicts with a freight railroad may temporarily limit eastbound service to Pomona instead of San Bernardino, and nine of the 13 planned stations will still be under construction when the first trains roll.

When Service Starts in October

Done by October

* El Monte

* Covina

* Pomona

* Moorpark

Open, But Being Built

* Glendale

* Burbank

* Sylmar

* Santa Clarita

* Simi Valley

May Not Be Open

* Cal State LA

* Baldwin Park

* Van Nuys

* Chatsworth

Source: Southern California Regional Rail Authority