On Track

One year after acquiring a 30-mile rail corridor between Fillmore and Ventura, county transit officials have approved a deal to renovate a section of track to allow passenger trains to travel that route for the first time in decades--and connecting the Santa Clarita Valley and Ventura beaches by rail.

The Ventura County Transportation Commission unanimously approved a $100,000 contract Friday, calling for So Pac Rail Inc. of Torrance to rehabilitate the century-old tracks that have fallen into disrepair.

Transit officials called the approval the first step toward opening the line for tourist trains to transport inland residents to the coast and extend the famous Movie Train weekend excursions from Fillmore to Ventura.

“It’s not a multimillion-dollar improvement, but for us it really makes that track usable,” said Christopher Stephens, a planning manager for the county transit panel.

Last fall, the commission spent $8 million to purchase the 30-mile railway corridor from Southern Pacific Transportation Co., which stopped using it several years ago.

Transit planners want to convert the 100-foot-wide strip to usable train tracks, as well as a bike and jogging trail that stretches from Fillmore to Ventura beaches.

Stephens said Amtrak officials want to bring a novel European-style passenger car to the refurbished line within a few months. For a couple of weekends, the self-contained passenger car, complete with its own engine, would show off the prototype as part of an on-going West Coast promotion.

“The locomotive and the passenger car are all in one car, so it’s more like a car,” Stephens said. “They can be a lot less to operate.”

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Meanwhile, the owners of Short Line Enterprises, which operates the Movie Train between Piru and Santa Paula, said the upgrade would allow them to extend the runs of their historic passenger trains to Ventura.

“We’ve been in very close communication with the Ventura County Transportation Commission,” said Stan Garner, co-owner of the novelty railroad.

“Once this track is upgraded, I could see us running a special train down there [to Ventura] on special occasions,” Garner said. “But we don’t have one lined up at this point.”

For instance, runs could be scheduled during the county fair or the recent California Beach Party.

Garner said most of his passengers would come from Los Angeles and the Santa Clarita Valley, looking for a unique day trip and an escape from inland weather.

“We bring several hundred people to Santa Paula and Fillmore every weekend,” Garner said. “The closer we can bring them to Oxnard and Ventura, the better off everyone is.”

The contract approved Friday calls for So Pac Rail to complete the renovation of the tracks between Santa Paula and the Montalvo station in east Ventura, where MetroLink commuter trains are stored overnight.

Built in the late 1880s, the tracks now are only used by Southern Pacific freight trains by agreement with the Transportation Commission.

But the upgrade to federal Class 1 standards will allow passenger trains to shuttle between Montalvo and Santa Paula for the first time in decades.

The work can be done relatively quickly because So Pac Rail has an automated system that rolls along the tracks, checking railroad ties and strengthening the steel rails.

“They do a little bit of handwork, but by and large it’s very automated,” Stephens said.

The renovation is expected to be completed next month.