Train Cost Overruns Could Trim Service : Metrolink: The estimate for operating the commuter lines between Ventura and L.A. counties has doubled to almost $1 million. The plan for four runs in each direction may be pared to only three.

The estimated cost of operating a commuter train from eastern Ventura County to downtown Los Angeles has doubled to nearly $1 million and threatens to reduce the level of service initially promised, officials said Monday.

The additional costs will not affect the start of the new Metrolink train service, which will connect Simi Valley and Moorpark to Los Angeles beginning Oct. 26, officials said. But the number of trains running between Ventura and Los Angeles counties may be reduced.

Initially, transit officials said that Amtrak would operate four eastbound trains running from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and four westbound trains operating from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

But because of cost overruns there may now only be three trains running in each direction, said Mary Travis, manager of transit projects for the Ventura County Transportation Commission.

“We’ll still have trains commuting,” she said. “It’s just the level of service that needs to be determined.”

Travis said the increased operating costs, now estimated at $946,000, are mainly due to the high cost of providing insurance for the regional rail system that will initially include Ventura, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

The cost of the insurance is estimated at $3.3 million, about $1 million higher than expected. Ventura County’s share is projected to be about $1 million, but the actual cost will not be known until about June.

Travis said she is meeting today with a special advisory committee of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority to discuss the increased insurance costs and how they are being divided among the three counties that will begin service in October.

The rail authority, which will operate the trains, is a partnership of Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. The last two counties will join the rail network late next year.

Travis said county transportation officials will be looking for insurance options.

“We’re going to be putting a lot of money into insurance, but we’d rather put it into making it a safe rail system to start with,” she said.

Simi Valley Assistant City Manager Mike Sedell, who has been helping to coordinate plans for the new rail line, said he remains optimistic that the operating costs will be less than now projected and that the level of train service will not be affected.

“We don’t want to see a reduction in service before it even begins,” Sedell said. “We definitely believe there will be a much greater utilization of the train service than anyone anticipated.”

Travis said transit officials have estimated that at least 800 one-way passengers from Ventura County will ride the commuter trains daily. Ticket prices now being proposed include $6 one way, $11 round trip and a discounted monthly pass.

But those prices could change. Travis said the county transportation commission will hold a public hearing on the prices at its May 1 meeting.

Although the county has enough money to pay for its share of operating the commuter train for the first year, transit officials may have to begin looking elsewhere for future funding, Travis said.

One option would be to use money now earmarked for road improvements in each of the county’s 10 cities, she said, while another would be for the transportation commission to again initiate a ballot measure that would raise the county sales tax to help pay for transportation projects, including operating the commuter train. Voters overwhelmingly rejected a similar proposal in 1991.