High-Speed Train Plans Announced : Transportation: Proposal to link San Diego to Sacramento is ambitious but lacks serious funding for $7 billion cost.

The U.S. Secretary of Transportation announced Monday that $1.2 million will go to develop a high-speed passenger train that one day could zoom from San Diego to Sacramento--an ambitious project expected to cost at least $7 billion.

The money will be used next year to improve the safety of 85 railroad crossings--eliminating some, fencing off others--from San Diego to Los Angeles, officials said. Last week in San Diego, three people were killed in crossing accidents.

But as one state transportation official pointed out, constructing a single overpass or underpass can cost $15 million.

Transportation Secretary Andrew H. Card Jr. said the money was not as meaningful as the commitment it symbolized.

“It isn’t significant in the dollar amount, but it is the first step toward high-speed rail,” Card said in an interview.

Several transportation officials in the state, however, expressed skepticism about the federal government’s commitment to the project. One California official observed of the announcement’s timing: “It happens to be a few days before the election.”

Others said California had lost out to the Northeast and hadn’t gotten a fair share of federal transportation dollars.

“We still haven’t been treated like the Northeast Corridor,” said Thomas Larwin, general manager of San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit Development Board.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation chose California and two other regions for high-speed rail corridors. Card came to San Diego on Monday to officially announce the San Diego-Sacramento project; now feasibility of the project will be studied more closely.

Federal funds, along with state and private dollars, will be used to improve railroad crossings. And the federal allocation Monday may serve as a lightning rod, drawing additional dollars.

“By designating rail corridors, you are sending a message that the federal government is committed to this rail bed,” Card said. “We are designating these systems where we will focus our attention.”

James W. van Loben Sels, Caltrans’ director, said the federal money would serve as “seed money” and allow the state to seek additional funds.

The 655-mile route planned in California will one day run from San Diego to Sacramento, slicing through the San Joaquin Valley, Card said during a news conference at the Santa Fe Depot. By reducing the number of crossings and upgrading the track, officials say, the trains could travel as fast as 120 m.p.h., almost 40 m.p.h. faster than now.

Today, 182 railroad crossings dot the tracks between San Diego and Los Angeles. Of those, 85 have automatic warning signals that pedestrians, bicyclists and even cars sometimes ignore.

“If we could eliminate those crossings, we could have high-speed railways in this decade if we wanted,” said Gilbert E. Carmichael, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. “We wouldn’t dare build a street across an airport runway.”

One high-speed train corridor, he said, could tote the same amount of passengers and freight that travel on eight lanes of highway.

By the year 2002, transportation officials hope 5.1-million passengers will ride the rails each each year from San Diego to Los Angeles on 14 daily round trips.

But state officials are eagerly eyeing the northern portion of the planned corridor. With a train traveling 125 m.p.h., passengers could travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in five hours, according to one report.

If the train traveled 185 m.p.h.--a speed reached by French trains--that same trip would take a little over three hours.

Four other high-speed corridors have been selected across the nation, but only two of those routes have been announced. One is planned to run 647 miles from Detroit to Chicago, with branches to St. Louis and Milwaukee. The other would go from Miami to Orlando, a 350-mile route.

High-Speed Rail Link The federal government is allocating $1.2 million to help develop California’s high-speed passenger train that will one day zoom from San Diego to Sacramento. The money will be used to improve the safety of 85 railroad crossings-eliminating some, fencing off others-from San Diego to Los Angeles.