Metrolink Won’t Echo Cal Train, Planners Say : Transportation: The new periwinkle-and-white cars will have their own rights-of-way. The trains will run on time, transit officials promise.

Long before Metrolink--the new commuter train service linking eastern Ventura County to downtown Los Angeles--there was Cal Train.

For a short time in the early 1980s, Cal Train provided commuter service between Oxnard and Los Angeles.

But the state-sponsored system was plagued by a myriad of problems. Passenger cars were uncomfortable, trains were rarely on time and there was no connecting bus service.

Not surprisingly, five months after it began, Cal Train was history.

The main problem with the service, which operated from October of 1982 to February of 1983, was reliability, said Ginger Gherardi, a former passenger who is now executive director of the Ventura County Transportation Commission.

“You never knew when you left home whether you were actually going to get (to your destination),” said Gherardi, who rode the train from Simi Valley to Glendale. “And if you got there, you didn’t know if you were going to get home because more than once they canceled the train.”

Gherardi said Cal Train was doomed from the start because Southern Pacific Transportation Co., which the state forced into its role as operator of the commuter train, was an unwilling participant and was not particularly concerned with schedules or passenger convenience.

“You had to be a die-hard train rider to get on those trains,” said Gherardi. “They were really unreliable.”

The new Metrolink train service will be different, Gherardi said.

To begin with, the Southern California Regional Rail Authority will operate the trains. The five-county commuter rail agency has bought rights-of-way from Southern Pacific and other rail agencies, guaranteeing that passenger trains will get priority over freight service.

Metrolink will also operate twice as many trains as the old Cal Train system. There will be four eastbound trains leaving Moorpark and Simi Valley for downtown Los Angeles in the morning and four westbound trains making the return trip in the evening. The 47-mile route will include stops in Chatsworth, Van Nuys, Burbank and Glendale.

When trains pull into Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, buses will be waiting to transport commuters to the City Hall area, the Financial District, Bunker Hill and USC. Private companies will have shuttle buses and vans taking employees to and from rail stations along the route.

Gherardi said the success of Metrolink will depend largely on its reliability.

“We are bound and determined that these trains will be on schedule and on time,” she said. “For it to work, people are going to have to feel it’s comfortable and that it’s convenient.”

Simi Valley resident Leslie Sears, a former Cal Train passenger, said she plans to use the new Metrolink service four days a week to get to her job in downtown Los Angeles.

“I’m sick of driving,” Sears said. “I’ve been doing it for 11 years. I’ve run up 80,000 miles in three years on my car. It’s ridiculous. I’ve got a 1989 Acura Legend that cost $30,000 that’s now worth about $12,000.”

Although it will take her just as long to get downtown on the train as it does to drive her car--about 75 minutes--Sears said she prefers the train. A monthly pass will cost her $176. Daily trips will cost $6.50 one-way and $12 round-trip. Rides the first week will be free.

“I’m going to save $130 on parking,” Sears said. “I’m going to save on wear and tear on my car . . . . I can also put my makeup on the train.”

Still, Sears said she is concerned about reports that Metrolink’s modern, double-decked passenger cars are noisy and cramped, with little leg room between seats.

Several of the distinctive periwinkle-and-white cars have been in service for more than a month on the Orange County Transportation Authority’s commuter train into Los Angeles.

“There, perhaps, could have been more room” between seats, Gherardi said in response to complaints.

She said that there may still be some seating modifications made, but that there was no time to make changes before the start of the new service.

She also acknowledged that there is little room for storing briefcases and other carry-on luggage, aside from limited space under passenger seats.

“We thought there should be an overhead rack,” she said. “But the design of the car precluded us from having that. The lights sit in that area.”

As for the cost of riding the train, Gherardi said, “Frankly, the monthly pass is expensive. But we are trying to run a first-class service. We are not running the system for just anybody to casually use.”

Gherardi points out that Metrolink passenger cars are significantly quieter than Amtrak cars.

Sears said that while she is disappointed that the passenger cars may not be as comfortable as she would like, it will not deter her from riding the train.

“I’m concerned about the complaints,” Sears said. “But if the train stays on schedule, I think people will ride it.”

“It’s going to be a matter of how badly you want to get off the road. I’m just sick of driving. I want to hang on to my sanity a little more.”

Ginni Davis, another former Cal Train rider, said she would like to ride the new commuter train but will not be able to because no midday service is being offered. Davis said she works in downtown Los Angeles in the morning and in Burbank in the afternoon.

“If there was a midday train, it would really help,” she said.

Gherardi noted that Los Angeles is already talking about expanding its Metrolink operations, but said there are no plans to offer midday service in Ventura County. She said the county can barely afford to pay for the existing service.

Ventura County’s share of operating costs is $750,000 a year for the first two years, with $550,000 coming from state transit funds and the remainder coming from the federal government.

Gherardi said that although the county’s goal is to eventually collect 40% of operating costs from farebox returns, that is not expected to happen until the third year of service.

“We have to build up to that,” she said. In the meantime, she said the average subsidy per rider is about $3.50.

The operating cost of the train service is of particular importance to Ventura County because it is the only county participating in the commuter rail network that does not have a half-cent sales tax measure to help pay for transit projects.

“It’s a major detriment to us in terms of our transit and highway programs,” Gherardi said, adding that the county will have to try again in the future to get a sales tax measure passed to keep up with operating costs of the train service.

If Metrolink ridership in Ventura County turns out to be lower than expected, she said, it is possible by the third year of operation that service to Moorpark and Simi Valley could be cut back or canceled.

“On the other hand, I sincerely believe there is a desire and need for train service,” she said. “If we didn’t think so, we wouldn’t be doing this.”

The Southern California Regional Rail Authority predicts that 162 riders will board each day in Moorpark and 252 in Simi Valley. About 80% of the Ventura County line’s passengers are expected to ride all the way downtown.

However, Gherardi is quick to add that these ridership figures are based on 3-year-old data.

“We think ridership will be higher,” she said. “But the bottom line is we don’t know. Nobody really knows how many people are actually going to ride the train.”

Still, Gherardi said she is confident that Metrolink will have no problem attracting riders. She cites the continuing success of Amtrak’s Los Angeles-to-Santa Barbara line, which was expanded earlier this year to include a stop in Ventura. Beginning today, Amtrak, which stops in Oxnard and Simi Valley, will add Moorpark to its Santa Barbara line.

Despite all the careful planning that went into Metrolink, Gherardi said she expects that there will be some glitches in the new service, especially in the first few days.

“We put together the fifth-largest rail system in the United States in the space of two years, from start to finish,” she said. “We could not have possibly imagined every contingency that may come up.”

Metrolink Commuter Train Schedule

Weekdays, beginning todayOct. 26.

Morning eastbound TRAIN NUMBERS

100 102 104 106 Moorpark 5:06 5:51 6:31 7:16 Simi Valley 5:21 6:06 6:46 7:31 Chatsworth 5:34 6:19 6:59 7:44 Van Nuys 5:46 6:31 7:11 7:56 Burbank 5:57 6:42 7:22 8:07 Glendale 6:05 6:50 7:30 8:15 Los Angeles 6:30 7:15 7:55 8:40

Evening westbound TRAIN NUMBERS

101 103 105 107 Los Angeles 4:10 4:45 5:30 6:20 Glendale 4:30 5:05 5:50 6:40 Burbank 4:38 5:13 5:58 6:48 Van Nuys 4:49 5:24 6:09 6:59 Chatsworth 5:01 5:36 6:21 7:11 Simi Valley 5:14 5:49 6:34 7:24 Moorpark 5:36 6:11 6:56 7:46

Ticket prices: One-way fare from Moorpark or Simi Valley to Union Station: $6.50 Roundtrip: $12 Prices for monthly passes:

Moorpark to Union Station: $176

Simi Valley to Union Station: $176

Source: Ventura County Transportation Commission