Curtain Rises on Budding Metrolink Rail System : Transit: First phase of suburban-city network debuts Monday. Up to 5,400 cars may be removed from roads.

Before another rush-hour SigAlert blackens commuters’ moods, Los Angeles will quintuple the size of its budding rail-transit system.

Early Monday, a dozen double-decked, periwinkle and white trains are scheduled to roll from distant suburbs into downtown Los Angeles on the first three lines that form the new Metrolink commuter rail network.

Running parallel to some of the region’s most congested freeways--and sometimes within sight of them--the initial 114 miles of Metrolink routes will be but a sample of a 450-mile web promised to stretch within a few years from Ventura to San Diego and into the Inland Empire.

Even at stations that will be open for business Monday, passengers may find the paint not completely dry and light fixtures not installed. Such details testify to the swiftness with which Metrolink was created--and the last-minute preparations that had to be attended to in the final days before the trains start running.

Workers labored hurriedly last week, erecting signs at Union Station on Friday morning and paving the Burbank station’s parking lot with asphalt between intermittent rain showers. Only about half the system’s 23 computerized ticket-vending machines will be installed by Monday morning. This will not pose a problem because passengers will ride for free during the first week. The machines should be in place by the time the first fares are to be collected a week from Monday, officials said.

To many longtime commuters, Metrolink may evoke memories of Pacific Electric’s storied Red Car trams and trolleys. “Two years ago, voters showed us with overwhelming support of rail transit funding that they wanted that kind of service again,” said Jacki Bacharach, chairwoman of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, which owns and manages the Metrolink network.

But the commuter rail network being primed for its premiere at 5:06 a.m. Monday in Moorpark more closely resembles Amtrak’s intercity San Diegan trains.

Unlike the Metro Blue Line, the Long Beach-to-Los Angeles trolley line that runs trains as often as every six minutes during the week, Metrolink trains are scheduled to operate 35 to 55 minutes apart and only during weekday rush hours.

“This system was devised to serve people who commute at least 20 miles each way,” Ventura County rail authority board member Bill Davis said. If all of the trains carry the maximum number of passengers, they could remove as many as 5,400 cars from the road, he added.

The three start-up Metrolink lines will run from Union Station to Moorpark in eastern Ventura County, to the Santa Clarita Valley and to Pomona.

Travel time from Moorpark to Union Station should take up to 84 minutes, with intermediate stops at stations in Simi Valley, Chatsworth, Van Nuys, Burbank and Glendale. The trip from Santa Clarita and Union Station is to take 69 minutes, with stops at Burbank and Glendale, and the travel time from Pomona to Union Station will be 54 minutes, with other stations in Covina and El Monte.

Four morning and four evening trains will make the Moorpark run; three trains will be on the Santa Clarita Valley line, and five trains will be used on the Pomona line.

Two additional stations, including a station in Sylmar on the Santa Clarita Valley line, are scheduled to open before the end of the year.

The system has cost California taxpayers more than $1 billion in local and state bond measures and taxes--just for buying the 450-mile network of railroad tracks on which the trains will run. Train cars, equipment and stations are expected to cost tens of millions more.

Commuters can ride Metrolink for free in its opening week. After that, distance-based fares will range from $3.50 for the cheapest one-way ticket to $176 for a monthly pass from the most distant station. Senior citizens and students may qualify for a 50% discount; children under 6 may ride free when accompanied by an adult.

These fares, which were set after a series of public meetings this year, have drawn complaints from some commuters. Metrolink officials say the train will be cheaper than driving for long-distance commuters who pay $8 a day or more to park. However, rail authority Executive Director Richard Stanger said his board may consider some fare adjustments for shorter trips.

“I think the board wants to start the service and then see what adjustments need to be made,” Stanger said. “The question we’ve wrestled with is, do you start with a fare you will have to raise every year or do you start with a fare you can hold for several years?”

Although passengers can step off a train at any station along the way, Metrolink’s primary goal is to provide an alternative for long-distance commuters headed to downtown Los Angeles.

Trains are scheduled to arrive at Union Station between 6:20 a.m. and 8:55 a.m., and run back to the suburbs between 3:45 p.m. and 6:25 p.m. Metrolink officials used focus groups to determine a schedule that would attract the largest number of riders. Trains will run only into Los Angeles in the morning and only out of town in the afternoon.

Stanger said additional trains may be added and other scheduling changes made next summer, after Metrolink planners have the chance to study several months of statistics on ridership and commuting patterns.

One likely scenario, he said, would be the addition of trains running later in the morning and later in the evening to serve more people working outside the 9-to-5 grind. Express trains and “skip-stop” service bypassing little-used stations also may be used to slice travel times. Midday and “reverse commute” trains also could be added later, Stanger said.

At Union Station, commuters will be able to transfer to fleets of buses waiting to shuttle them to the Civic Center, Bunker Hill, the financial district and South Park. The buses, some operated by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and the rest by the Southern California Rapid Transit District, will wait next to the train platforms behind Union Station and will accept Metrolink tickets as free transfers.

Transit officials hope the Metro Red Line subway will open by the end of the year, giving commuters a speedier alternative to downtown destinations. A Red Line station is located beneath Union Station and will be connected to the commuter platforms by escalators.

Initially, Metrolink trains will stop at all stations on their lines--at least, all stations that are ready to accommodate passengers. Three will not be ready in time: Sylmar, Baldwin Park and Cal State L.A. The Sylmar and Baldwin Park stations are expected to open in December, as are stops in Claremont and Montclair. A Cal State L.A. station is expected to be ready next spring.

Also next spring, rail authority officials intend to extend the Pomona route to San Bernardino, with intermediate stops in Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana and Rialto. Around that same time, two daily round-trip trains are scheduled to start running between Los Angeles and Riverside, with stops in Pedley, Ontario, Pomona, Industry and Montebello.

Metrolink did not exist two years ago, when voters approved $1 billion in statewide bonds to improve rail transit. Part of that money was used to help buy the unused freight railroad tracks on which Metrolink will run and equip it with locomotives, coaches and stations.

Rail authority leaders--a coalition of transportation officials from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties--were eager to make sure that Metrolink was running before they came back to ask voters for more money to expand the system.

A second $1-billion rail bond proposal, Proposition 156, is on the Nov. 3 ballot. If voters approve it, money raised from the bonds would finance Metrolink’s expansion and help pay for a Blue Line extension to Pasadena, a Los Angeles Airport branch off the Norwalk-to-El Segundo Green Line and other urban-rail projects.

Approval of the bonds would not increase taxes, but the state Legislative analyst estimates that repaying the principal and interest would take about $87 million a year from California’s general fund for the next 20 years.

Metrolink trains will consist of General Motors Diesel-electric locomotives and double-deck coaches supplied by Bombardier Corp., a Canadian firm.

The locomotives are designed to emit less pollution than any other Diesel-electric engines. Still, they may generate more oxides of nitrogen, a key smog component, than all the cars they will replace on the road. For this reason, the rail authority is working with state officials and major railroad companies to try to find money to electrify the region’s rail lines.

The coaches will carry 148 passengers each in plushly padded seats--and have standing room for 155 commuters. They also are wheelchair accessible and have bicycle racks for commuters prepared to cycle from Union Station to their offices. For riders who want to work on the way to and from their offices, the coaches have cellular telephones and tables for computers.

Some of the Metrolink coaches were loaned in September to the Orange County Transportation Authority, who has used them on a once-a-day round-trip train between San Juan Capistrano and Los Angeles. Some passengers on those trains complained that the Metrolink cars’ face-to-face seats are too small and placed too closely together. Rail authority officials are investigating how to remedy the problem.

Despite those complaints, ridership on the Orange County trains has risen by 6% since the new coaches were placed in service last month, the rail authority said. Until Metrolink starts, Orange County has operated the only true commuter trains in the region. Amtrak’s popular San Diegan trains actually are an intercity service adopted by commuters.

A year from now, Orange County plans to add two more trains so that it will have three in operation. By 1995, the agency is scheduled to operate nine round-trip trains every day. Combined with the nine Amtrak trains, Orange County commuters would have 18 trains from which to choose when commuting into Los Angeles.

Metrolink: The New Commuter Rail Network

Metrolink is a regional commuter rail system that will use existing rail lines purchased by the Southern California Regional Rail Authority to connect long-distance commuters from outlying communities to downtown Los Angeles.

The first three lines are scheduled to begin service Monday from Moorpark, Pomona and Santa Clarita to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. All passengers can ride free for the first week. Other lines are scheduled to open in 1993 and later. Ultimately, the Metrolink rail system will include nine commuter lines linking the five counties that make up the rail authority--Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura. (A line to Oceanside in San Diego County also is planned.)

Metrolink authorities estimate the system may eliminate up to 40,000 autos per peak traffic period from the freeways. The system is funded by rail bond measures and county sales tax proceeds. Amtrak has contracted to operate the Metrolink trains.

Routes and Departures

Trains will generally operate from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Because service is geared to the long-distance commuter, initial runs will be during peak rush hours but other services may be added. Initial routes opening Monday. Moorpark to Los Angeles:

Distance: 47 miles, parallels the Simi Valley (118) Freeway.

Frequency: Trains depart every 45 minutes during the commuting hours, four round-trip trains daily.

Travel time from Moorpark: 70 to 84 minutes.

Stations: Moorpark, Simi Valley, Chatsworth, Van Nuys, Burbank and Glendale.

Cost of monthly pass: $176 (Moorpark to Los Angeles, 4 zones).

Cost of daily roundtrip: $12 (Moorpark to Los Angeles, 4 zones). Santa Clarita to Los Angeles:

Distance: 34 miles, parallels the Golden State (I-5) Freeway.

Frequency: Trains depart every 60 minutes during the commuting hours, three round-trip trains daily.

Travel time from Santa Clarita: About 69 minutes.

Stations: Santa Clarita, Sylmar (open early 1993), Burbank, Glendale.

Cost of monthly pass: $144 (Santa Clarita to Los Angeles, 3 zones).

Cost of daily roundtrip: $10 (Santa Clarita to Los Angeles, 3 zones). Pomona to Los Angeles:

Distance: 31 miles, parallels the San Bernardino (I-10) Freeway.

Frequency: Trains depart every 40 minutes during the commuting hours, five round-trip trains daily.

Travel time from Pomona: About 54 minutes.

Stations: Pomona, Covina, Baldwin Park (open early 1993), El Monte, Cal State L.A. (open early ‘93).

Cost of monthly pass: $144 (Pomona to Los Angeles, 3 zones).

Cost of daily roundtrip: $10 (Pomona to Los Angeles, 3 zones).

Ticketing and Fares

Machines: Commuters can purchase tickets at self-service ticket vending machines at each Metrolink station or from ticket agents at Union Station. Machines initially will accept cash, but later may accept credit cards and ATM cards.

Types: Four types of tickets will be available: one-way, round-trip, 10-trip tickets and monthly passes. Fares are based on commuting distance. Ticket prices are based on a base fare of $2.50 and a $1 charge for each additional zone.

Prices: Ticket prices include a transfer to Metrolink connecting shuttles at Union Station that will take commuters to the Civic Center and Bunker Hill area or the South Park and financial district. Negotiations are under way to allow Metrolink riders to transfer free to other transit systems as well.

Discounts: Riders 65 and older and disabled people receive 50% discounts. One child under 6 may ride free with each fare-paying adult.

Mail: Ticket-by-mail program, and sales through colleges, universities and corporate employee transportation programs are planned.

Stations

Location: Stations will be about five to 10 miles apart. Most are newly built but a few historic stations will be renovated. Each community is responsible for operating and maintaining its station.

Structure: Stations will include a parking lot for at least 300 vehicles, a platform with a canopy, benches and ticket vending machines. Telephones, newspaper machines and retail outlets may be included.

Parking: The stations will have short-term and all-day parking. Specific operations, such as parking costs, if any, and security will be determined by each community. Overall security for Metrolink lines is being coordinated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Union Station: The main Metrolink passenger terminal will be at Union Station.

Equipment

Cars: A typical train will consist of a low pollution diesel-electric locomotive pulling three or four double-decked passenger cars at speeds up to 80 m.p.h.

Personnel: Conductors in each car will check, but not sell, tickets.

Car Interiors: Each car seats 148 passengers in face-to-face upholstered seating and can accommodate another 155 standing passengers. Passenger cars have heating, air-conditioning, water fountains, cellular phones, bicycle racks and restrooms are accessible to persons with disabilities. No food facilities will be provided.

More Information

For further information, call 1-800-371-LINK.

Sources: Metrolink, Southern California Regional Rail Authority. Compiled by Times researcher NONA YATES