County Clears Way for Light-Rail Line : Transportation: Commissioners allocate $841 million for route between Union Station and Pasadena. Service is slated to begin in late 1996.

County transportation commissioners Wednesday allocated $841 million for a 13.6-mile, light-rail line between downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena.

The action cleared the way for construction of the Pasadena light-rail line, slated to open in late 1996. The trolley is to run between Union Station in downtown to Sierra Madre Villa Avenue in Pasadena--a trip expected to take about 25 minutes.

“This next light-rail line is a much-needed corridor for people who use the overcrowded Pasadena Freeway now for travel between Pasadena and downtown L.A.,” said Stephanie Brady, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.

The line will be an extension of the Blue Line, which operates between Long Beach and downtown. And like Blue Line trains, the trolleys are to run mostly on tracks once used by Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway trains.

There will be stops at six stations in Pasadena and one in South Pasadena. In Pasadena’s Old Town, a grade separation, or tunnel, is to be built under Green Street, Colorado Boulevard and Union Street.

The commissioners directed staff to prepare a report on how the $34-million grade separation will be funded by Pasadena and the commission, which has committed $16 million for the project.

Commissioners also decided that passengers will be able to ride free for two days on the Red Line subway, which opens Jan. 30. After that, riders are expected to pay 25 cents. The fare will be in effect for a month.

Because the LACTC and the Southern California Rapid Transit District will merge Feb. 1 into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, commissioners decided Wednesday to allow the MTA to decide on a fare after the subway’s first month. Officials have predicted that the Red Line fare will be $1.10.

Meanwhile, Mayor Tom Bradley was thwarted in his effort to have the Los Angeles Police Department patrol the city’s new subway instead of transit police. The Police Department option would have cost $3.1 million more.

The RTD board voted last month to deploy transit police on the Red Line. In a 6-5 vote Wednesday, the commission voted to support that decision.

Police Department officials had estimated that one year of patrolling the 4.4-mile first segment of the Red Line would require 57 officers at a cost of $6 million.

Before the Blue Line opened in 1990, the RTD caved in to its partner agency and chose the more expensive Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to patrol the line.

The Blue Line decision created a much-cited inequity where officials spend $1.25 on security for each Blue Line passenger and only 3 cents for each bus rider. Consequently, officials were reluctant to select the more expensive security alternative for Red Line passengers.

“How do we tell RTD police . . . that they are OK to do the buses but they are not OK to do the subway?” asked Councilman Richard Alatorre. “That’s outrageous.”