Union Station Dispute Threatens to Disrupt New Metrolink Service

Less than a week old, the Metrolink commuter train system was confronted Wednesday with the possibility of its first service disruption when a representative of the corporation that owns Union Station rejected an offer to settle a dispute over station maintenance costs.

Metrolink representatives--after noting that ridership Wednesday had jumped by 32% to 6,751 passengers--downplayed the likelihood that trains may not operate next Monday, but a representative of Union Station’s owner threatened to take legal action to keep commuters off its property.

When Metrolink began running Monday, Southern California Regional Rail Authority officials had secured an agreement allowing the trains to use the tracks at Union Station, but they had not yet concluded a deal permitting passengers to use the platforms and buildings.

Catellus Corp., the giant real estate company that acquired the historic landmark building three years ago, agreed to let Metrolink passengers use the station anyway--provided the rail authority comes to terms on sharing the costs of security and maintaining common areas within one week.

The week ends Friday at midnight. Negotiations are scheduled to resume today, but Catellus lawyer George J. Mihlsten said the latest rail authority offer--$330,000 a year for two years--is “flatly not acceptable.”

He said Catellus wants $591,715, or 45% of the cost of maintaining the station.

“At Friday midnight, their rights to access (Union Station) lapse and any subsequent entry constitutes trespass,” Mihlsten said during a monthly board meeting of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, which has been negotiating with Catellus on behalf of the rail authority.

LACTC Executive Director Neil Peterson discounted the threat to interrupt Metrolink service as last-minute contract-negotiating brinkmanship. He promised that the trains will operate as scheduled Monday.

“No commuter has reason to be concerned,” he said. “We are ready for any contingency.” However, Peterson was vague when pressed for details.

The LACTC chief was very specific in criticizing Catellus for allegedly holding hostage the region’s new commuter-train system, which has attracted so much public interest that Metrolink has doubled the number of information operators to keep up with thousands of inquiries.

“(Catellus) is a private company, and if they want to screw around with commuters, that is their business . . . and they should be held responsible,” Peterson said.

He said that the regional rail authority already has spent $36.6 million on station and track improvements to change Union Station from a “sleepy, shabby Amtrak train station” into a “major multi-modal transportation center and real estate investment opportunity.”

Mihlsten said that the improvements were done to benefit Metrolink, and that in any case they do not justify infringement of Catellus’ property rights.

“We don’t want to be in this position,” he told the LACTC board. “We know we won’t look good at the end of the day. But it is our property . . . (and) we are going to have to pursue all legal avenues to protect our property.”

In other action, the LACTC board more than doubled the $900,000-a-year security budget for Metrolink, despite objections by some board members that the vote reinforced the appearance that suburban train riders get first-class service at the expense of inner-city bus riders.

“We’re getting millions and millions and millions on security for rail and nothing for the buses,” said Gerry Hertzberg, who represents Supervisor Gloria Molina on the board.

Hertzberg and other critics argued that bus riders, by far the bulk of the region’s public transit users, receive a fraction of the security given train riders. The Southern California Rapid Transit District estimates it spends 3 cents per rider for security on buses but about $1.25 per rider for security on the Metro Blue Line.

The LACTC decided to pay the Sheriff’s Department $954,000 for added security on Metrolink after being told that forged tickets, vandalism and panhandling--problems that may reduce riders or revenue--would not rate a response from overworked police agencies in Southern California.

The new money would pay for nine deputies, two sergeants, one detective and an unspecified number of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department support personnel who will exclusively work on Metrolink trains, stations and tracks.

The earlier $900,000 contract requires the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to work with city police departments to coordinate crime prevention and law enforcement activities on the trains, which run though a patchwork of jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, the LACTC board also approved $38 million in construction and other projects in riot-torn communities as its initial contribution to help rebuild Los Angeles.

Most of the money will be used to improve freight railroad lines to the harbor and speed up construction of two electric trolley bus lines. But the LACTC also agreed to hire young people to work on rail transit rights of way, to enroll others in building trades apprenticeships and to provide scholarships to college students studying transportation planning.