Fences and Signs Going Up Along 2-Mile Stretch of Metrolink Tracks : Transportation: The safety project is funded by $863,000 in taxes raised through 1990’s Proposition C.

After a three-month delay, workers have begun installing fences, ditches and warning signs along a two-mile stretch of Metrolink tracks in Sylmar, Pacoima and San Fernando in response to a series of rail deaths in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

The $863,000 pilot project, which was postponed due to community meetings and bureaucratic requirements, is back on track and scheduled for completion by November, county transportation officials said Wednesday.

Nine deaths have occurred on Metrolink tracks since the commuter trains began rolling in October--five of them along a nine-mile stretch between Sylmar and Pacoima on the line from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Clarita.

The project includes fences that range in height from four feet around pedestrian crossings and 12 feet between the tracks and San Fernando Middle School, where concerns over student safety prompted calls for new, stronger fences.

“I think we can all breathe a little easier now because we have a stronger fence,” Principal Maria Reza said during a news conference on the edge of the tracks near the school.

The century-old railroad rights of way through the highly populated communities have for many years been used by youngsters and adults alike as a shortcut, a playground and at times a site for dumping trash.

But Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials hope that the fences will put a stop to all of that. They have also launched plans to install landscaping and a bicycle bath next to the tracks, but separated by the fence.

Supervisor Ed Edelman, a transportation authority member who pressed for the safety project, called it “the best way to assure that kids don’t get into this area.”

Mel Wilson, a newly elected member of the MTA who once attended the school next to the tracks, said the project was “a way to use public funds and turn something negative into something positive.”

In addition to the nearly 4,000 yards of wrought iron and chain-link fence, the project includes 60 bilingual “No Trespassing” signs and 16 gates between Vaughn Street in Pacoima and Polk Street in Sylmar.

The project also includes improvements to a ditch between Brand Boulevard and Wolfskill Street that borders San Fernando Middle School in San Fernando. Erosion of the ditch banks has undermined a fence separating the school and the tracks, creating openings through which children can crawl through.

Funding for the project comes from Proposition C, a half-cent sales tax increase approved by voters in November, 1990.

Richard Stanger, executive director of Metrolink, said the project can be duplicated in other stretches of the 450-mile system in response to safety concerns. He said fences have been installed along tracks near Blythe Street in Van Nuys to keep students from crossing the right of way to get to school.

“We will do it when it’s required,” he said. “We will not do it throughout the entire 450-mile system.”