Group Surfaces to Challenge Commuter Rail : Transit: Coalition claims diesel locomotives would increase air pollution and trains would not significantly ease freeway congestion. Oceanside-San Diego service is to begin in late 1994.

Just when plans are finally rolling along the fast track for a $164-million Oceanside-San Diego commuter train, an organization has sprung up that seeks to derail the mass transit project.

Almost nobody had heard of the Transit Reform Coalition until last week, when members urged the Encinitas City Council to reject a local transit station and claimed the commuter train would increase air pollution without significantly easing freeway congestion.

Now, the coalition hopes to junk the current commuter rail plan by trying to get fresh faces appointed to the North County Transit District’s board of directors. The district is the lead agency for the commuter rail project and board members are named by area city councils.

Coalition chairwoman Virginia Cartwright said that “board members are led around by the nose by staff members” and that “open-minded people” should be appointed to replace them.

She advocates turning the coastal railroad right of way into a bicycle trail and linear park. If there is to be a commuter rail, she said it should run along a more central route--perhaps easterly near El Camino Real--and use a different technology, perhaps monorail.

Transit officials and politicians doubt the coalition has the time, support or political punch to seriously jeopardize the commuter rail service. But after five years of planning, the first organized opposition to the project is creating a little nervousness.

“I haven’t given up yet on commuter rail, but I admit this has caused me to take a deep breath,” said Encinitas Councilwoman Pam Slater, her city’s representative to the NCTD board.

Added Carlsbad Councilwoman Ann Kulchin: “At this late date, one group could not stop commuter rail.”

Still, the coalition is being taken seriously.

The San Diego Assn. of Governments on Friday issued a hastily drafted report challenging the coalition’s statements and depicting the commuter rail as a crucial means of reducing peak hour congestion along Interstate 5.

“Commuter rail in the coastal corridor is the most cost-effective technology available to us,” said Mike Zdon, a senior planner with Sandag. “We’re building it to reduce traffic congestion.”

While there is suddenly a debate over the project’s impact on air pollution and freeway congestion, it is undeniable that the coalition’s arrival comes at a rather awkward time--trains are scheduled to start rolling in late 1994.

Planning began in 1987 and the years since have produced public hearings and piles of thick reports. Last June, after a two-year delay, the Santa Fe Railway and regional transportation officials reached an agreement on the purchase of 82 miles of local railroad right of way and tracks.

That was the long awaited breakthrough, not only for Oceanside-San Diego commuter rail, but for a separate Oceanside-Escondido light-rail route. (The coalition objects only to the heavy commuter rail, which would use diesel locomotives.)

NCTD spokesman Pete Aadland said “we’re well into the design process” for the project’s nine transit stations and bids have been received for the purchase of locomotives and coaches. A contract could be awarded in 30 to 60 days, he said.

Despite the coalition, Aadland said confidently, “Commuter rail will happen. We will be open two years from today.”

The group’s appearance comes as a proposed transit station in Encinitas and another in downtown Carlsbad are under attack by some citizens. So officials are doubly unhappy about the coalition, which Cartwright said has 50 to 100 members from Encinitas, Del Mar, Solana Beach and Carlsbad.

Yet even some supporters of commuter rail say the group is asking some intelligent questions.

“Sometimes this is what government entities need in their face to make a solution better,” Slater said.

Essentially, the coalition argues that train ridership would be slight and that diesel locomotives would add to air pollution.

“It makes no sense to use more diesel when it’s polluting,” said Vance McClure, a coalition member with expertise in alternative energy and aerospace materials.

Using Sandag’s own reports, the coalition points out that in 1994, only 1,975 commuters would use the rail service, a figure projected to reach 4,130 in year 2010. Transportation officials say those figures were purposely conservative and that it’s virtually impossible to predict ridership.

Robert Banks, a noted transportation consultant in Washington, said “there is no credible model by which to forecast” patronage.

However, Banks, who has 35 years experience, said the three-year-old commuter rail service from West Palm Beach to Miami has enjoyed ridership that’s “substantially” more than had been projected.

The coalition maintains that diesel locomotives would worsen air pollution, but transportation officials counter that stringent government clean-air standards will eventually--they don’t say when--require alternative rail technology, perhaps electrification.

Aadland said that General Motors, which is bidding on the commuter rail project, is exploring locomotives that are cleaner burning than traditional diesel engines.

Whether the coalition gains ground might be determined soon because three members of the NCTB board are about to be replaced. Cartwright said she’ll urge city councils to appoint board members willing to critically analyze the current commuter rail plan.