Debate on Readiness, Glitches Delay Opening of Red Line

Transportation officials Monday delayed opening the city’s first subway as they hammer out technical glitches and debate the system’s readiness.

The Red Line, initially slated to begin service between Union Station and MacArthur Park on Jan. 11, will probably start serving the public by the end of the month. An exact date has not yet been set.

“We think January is looking very positive. We feel the system is coming into readiness,” said Edward McSpedon, president of the Rail Construction Corp., which constructed the 4.4 miles of tracks and five stations.

“As soon as we are ready, we will announce it,” said Neil Peterson, executive director of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, which oversees the Rail Construction Corp.

But officials with the city’s two rival transportation agencies--the commission and Southern California Rapid Transit District, which operates the trains--have not been able to agree whether the system is ready.

Last month, RTD officials cited a laundry list of problems, including doors that opened when the were supposed to remain closed and faulty software that caused the brakes to occasionally halt the trains. These problems have been solved, RCC officials said Monday.

But RTD officials say they are not comfortable with an early January opening because they need more time to test the reliability of the trains and make sure no other glitches crop up. “Jan. 11 was never realistic,” said Marv Holen, chairman of RTD’s board, who endorses a Jan. 30 opening.

Before allowing the public to use the trains, officials calculated, that they needed to test-run them a minimum of 30 days--a reduction from a planned 42 days. The testing began Dec. 9 but not all of the cars were available.

RTD General Manager Art Leahy said a delay would allow the agency more time to run safety drills and test the subway cars. As of Monday evening, the RTD was able to test-run 12 of its 16 cars, Leahy said.

In February, the city’s two transportation agencies, the LACTC and the RTD, are slated to merge and form a single entity, the Metropolitan Transit Authority. And as that date nears, the start-up of the subway’s first segment has become increasingly fraught with politics. Some officials have pushed for a Jan. 23 subway opening; others support Jan. 30, despite the possibility that the Super Bowl in Pasadena that weekend might overshadow Red Line festivities.

Politicians and transportation officials have traded charges that some are attempting to profit politically from an early start date.

If politics were not involved, said one official who requested anonymity, “we’d be starting in February.”

At a board meeting Monday, Charles Stark, the RCC’s project manager for the construction of the Red Line’s first segment, said that he expected work to be wrapped up no later than Sunday. By then, work on an emergency exit at Union Station and a bridge creating a shorter walk for Metrolink passengers at that station will also be completed, he said.

Other administrative details--such as obtaining Fire Department approval--will be finished Friday, Stark said, “so the last pieces are falling into place.”

But because the RTD operates the trains, those officials also evaluate whether they feel the system is ready.

“I have consistently urged that the Red Line open at the earliest prudent time,” said Mayor Tom Bradley, “and I am confident that this is precisely what will happen.”

The $1.45-billion segment of the Red Line will run from Union Station in downtown to MacArthur Park, a trip that is expected to take seven minutes. It will connect with the Blue Line, which runs 22 miles from Los Angeles to Long Beach.

The next, 6.7-mile segment of the Red Line will be installed in two parts: The first will run from MacArthur Park to Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, and the second from Wilshire Boulevard to Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. The first leg of the $1.46-billion route is expected to be completed in 1996; the second leg, running under Vermont Avenue, will be done in 1998.