County Study Gives Subway Plan the Edge Over Monorail : Transit: A proposed underground alternative would cost more but be faster, carry twice as many people and cause less environmental harm.

An east-west rail line running mostly underground through the San Fernando Valley would do less environmental harm than a monorail above the Ventura Freeway and could carry twice as many people at faster speeds, according to a county study released Wednesday.

The rail line, which would be underground in residential areas and at ground level in commercial areas, would cost more, however--$3.03 billion, compared to $2.6 billion for the monorail--according to the study.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission requested the study by county transportation officials two months ago to prepare for a decision in December on which of the two mass-transit projects to build in the Valley.

Many of the study’s conclusion about rail capacity and speed supported a similar comparison study released in September, 1991. But the latest study includes new information on cost and environmental impacts taken from an environmental study on the monorail proposal completed in August.

The comparison study was accepted Wednesday by the Los Angeles County Planning and Mobility Improvement Committee, a subcommittee of the commission.

Supporters of the mostly underground line, known as the Burbank-Chandler route because it would run parallel to those two streets, cited the study as evidence that it is the superior choice.

“I am confident that the comparative evaluation report before you today removes all doubt that the Burbank-Chandler route is the correct choice to serve the public transportation needs of the San Fernando Valley,” state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles) said in a prepared statement read to the panel by an aide.

Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Encino) and Mikie Maloney, a spokeswoman for the Coalition of Freeway Residents, a union of homeowners groups along the monorail route, urged county transportation officials to accelerate the decision on a Valley line.

“The people of the San Fernando Valley have lived under a cloud of uncertainty for too long,” Friedman said in a statement read by an aide.

No supporters of the monorail line spoke at the meeting Wednesday. The monorail has been championed by County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who is also chairman of the county Transportation Commission.

Construction of the Burbank-Chandler line would displace up to 56 businesses, employing 435 people, and would require trucks hauling dirt from the underground excavation to make regular trips on the rail line right of ways and adjacent streets, according to the study.

The monorail line, on the other hand, would displace 11 houses and 98 businesses, employing 1,200 people, it said.

Monorail construction could cause delays on the busy Ventura Freeway because the narrow freeway median would provide little room for equipment and workers, it said. Nearly half of the monorail’s elevated track would run alongside residential neighborhoods, it said, and riders would be able to peer from the trains into residences and yards. Also, nearly 19 acres of parkland in the Sepulveda Basin would be turned into stations and a rail yard.

Other problems facing the monorail line include:

* The need for state and federal approval to use the freeway median for construction;

* The need for environmental clearance from the federal government to use federal land within the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area to build rail stations and a maintenance yard;

* Since no guidelines on the construction and operation of a monorail line exist, guidelines would have to be written and approved by the California Public Utilities Commission;

* A Fire Department station on Sepulveda Boulevard would have to be moved to make way for a maintenance yard.

No such problems arise with the Burbank-Chandler line, according to the study.

Commuters taking the Burbank-Chandler line would spend 51 minutes riding between Warner Center and Union Station downtown, according to the study. Commuters on the monorail, however, would take 60 minutes, including five minutes to transfer from the Metro Red Line in Universal City to the monorail, the study said. No transfer would be needed for the Burbank-Chandler line because the same trains would travel between downtown and Warner Center.

Based on ridership projections, by the year 2010 the Burbank-Chandler route would carry 53,800 passengers per day, compared to 45,900 passengers for the monorail, the study said. But the Burbank-Chandler line’s maximum daily capacity would be 135,000 passengers, compared to 63,000 for the monorail.

Transit Comparison Cost SUBWAY: $3.03 billion MONORAIL: $2.59 billion Travel time (Downtown to Warner Center) SUBWAY: 51 minutes MONORAIL: 60 minutes Maximum capacity (passengers per day) SUBWAY: 135,000 MONORAIL: 63,000 Adverse impacts SUBWAY: 56 businesses displaced; trucks hauling dirt MONORAIL: 11 homes, 98 busineses displaced; freeway construction delays; visual intrusion; 19 acres of parks eliminated Community support SUBWAY: Four business and civic associations, eight homeowner groups, seven elected officials, one coalition homeowner group MONORAIL: One neighborhood group, one elected official, three homeowner coalition groups