Bill Requires Subway for Freeway Rail Route : Legislation: The state Senate Transportation Committee approves a measure calling for an underground line rather than an elevated monorail.

A measure to require underground construction of any rail line built along the Ventura Freeway in the San Fernando Valley was approved Tuesday by the Senate Transportation Committee.

Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles), who is carrying the legislation, said his bill would not compel the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission to select the Ventura Freeway line over a rival route that would parallel Chandler and Victory boulevards as it passes through residential neighborhoods in North Hollywood and Van Nuys.

Instead, he said, the bill was similar to a measure by former Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys) that requires that the Chandler-Victory route also be built underground. That measure was signed into law by Gov. Pete Wilson last June.

Timothy Egan, a lobbyist for the county Transportation Commission, opposed Rosenthal’s proposal, arguing that it would override the ongoing local environmental review of alternative routes. He said the measure “would basically tell us we have to build a subway on a certain alignment.”

Rosenthal told the committee that his “bill merely gives the thousands of residents of my district who will be adversely affected by an elevated train the same protection provided” residents and businesses in North Hollywood, Van Nuys and downtown Los Angeles, where Metro Rail will be underground. Supporters, including homeowner groups, say an underground line would reduce noise and visual blight.

The committee approved the measure by a 7-2 margin and sent it to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

A proposed Ventura Freeway monorail line would run along the freeway’s southern shoulder from the planned Universal City Metro Rail subway station to Warner Center in Woodland Hills. County transportation officials are expected to select a final route in the next few months.

Sen. Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale) also opposed the Rosenthal bill, maintaining that many planners believe that subways are the most expensive alternative for commuter transit lines. Russell, whose district extends into the San Fernando Valley, said he would prefer that all the lines be underground but “there’s not enough money to do it all.”

The staff of the Transportation Committee argued a similar point.

A staff analysis of the Rosenthal measure noted that the Legislature has previously directed that mass-transit routes be selected at the local level. But the analysis warned that if exceptions are made to the process, it “is very likely to encourage many similar requests, thus putting the Legislature in the position of making most rail transit a subway. Given the fact that funds are very limited, fewer rail transit lines would be built as a consequence,” the analysis concluded.

But Paul H. Rosenthal, a management consultant who is not related to the senator, told the committee that in the long run an elevated line is likely to be more expensive, in part because it would carry fewer passengers.