Enthusiasm Limited for High-Speed Rail

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter on Friday reaffirmed city and county support for a futuristic 700-mile high-speed train linking Northern and Southern California, but local business leaders are taking a “wait and see” approach to the struggling proposal.

The differences emerged in the latest of a series of meetings being held around the state in an effort by its sponsors to build a consensus in support of the high-speed rail plan.

Disappointing members of the California High-Speed Rail Authority at the meeting in downtown Los Angeles, representatives of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Central City Assn. and Los Angeles World Airports said their agencies have not taken a position on the proposed $25-billion-plus system.

Concerns were expressed about costs and routes of the proposed north-south line.

But it was also clear that sponsors of the state plan were having difficulty overcoming strong local support for another proposal--one for a $4-billion magnetic levitation “maglev” train that sponsors say could whisk you from Los Angeles International Airport to Union Station in about 10 minutes at speeds of 240 to 310 mph.

California is competing with six other states for the federal demonstration project to build what would be the world’s first maglev passenger train.

Although the two futuristic high-speed train projects have overlapping goals and routes, they are on separate tracks and building their own constituencies.

The north-south rail project is being sponsored by the rail authority, a creation of the state Legislature and based in Sacramento.

Its business plan envisions a 700-mile train route capable of whisking passengers from downtown Los Angeles to downtown San Francisco in 2 1/2 hours. San Diego would be only an hour from Los Angeles; Sacramento, two hours. One-way fare to San Francisco from Los Angeles would be between $32 and $54, or about half the walk-up cost of an airline ticket, supporters say.

The state plan is based on proven technology being used by bullet trains in Japan and Europe.

Even if that proposal can deliver on its promises, it would cost $25 billion in 1999 dollars and far more in future dollars. Raising that kind of money would take a statewide vote.

Years of environmental reviews would be required.

Also in its early planning stages, the maglev project is the brainchild of the Southern California Assn. of Governments, which is based in Los Angeles and composed of local government leaders from six Southland counties.

A grant proposal being readied for the Federal Railroad Administration envisions a more modest route of 70 to 75 miles for its bullet train. It would run along local freeways at vision-blurring speeds from Los Angeles International Airport to Ontario International Airport, then to the site of the former Norton Air Force Base in Riverside, with stops at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and an unspecified station in the San Gabriel Valley.

Galanter, president pro tem of the City Council, argued at Friday’s meeting that the statewide plan makes much more sense, providing an answer to mushrooming traffic between Los Angeles and San Francisco and a high-speed solution to travel in the Central Valley, which now has only limited air service.

She said the state “desperately needs” a high-speed rail line linking downtown Los Angeles to downtown San Francisco.

“It’s taking longer to be able to have a face-to-face meeting at one end or the other if you have travel from one to the other,” she said.

She is also strongly critical of the maglev plan, saying it would be far more costly, relies on unproven technology and undermines the statewide project, which would serve far more passengers. The city council has not taken a position on the maglev plan.

But local business leaders said they like the maglev proposal because it could be built faster, at a lower cost, and meet local congestion problems.

“We are struggling on which way to go,” said Jerry Jeffe, legislative manager of the Chamber of Commerce, whose organization has studied both. He said corporate members of the chamber see the maglev train as a less ambitious project, with a shorter time frame for construction, a lower cost and a regional approach to congestion problems. “Our membership is concerned about transportation today.”

The comments left members of the rail authority pleading for at least enough support to keep their agency alive.

Authority member William E. Leonard said he feared the comments by the Los Angeles business leaders would lead the Legislature to believe “there is not enough support to go forward on this.”

Created in 1997 to develop a business plan for the rail project, the authority’s funding and statutory powers run out at the end of this month. The majority of its nine members were appointed by former Gov. Pete Wilson.

Initially, the rail authority requested $25 million from Gov. Gray Davis, which would have extended its life and provided enough money for environmental impact studies with enough left over to begin to buy public rights of way. But Davis is offering just $5 million, which would allow the authority to go forward but not be enough to meet all its needs.

There are two bills in the Legislature to extend the life of the authority. Either one would allow Davis to appoint his own commissioners.

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High-Speed Train Proposal

California High-Speed Rail Authority is asking for support from Los Angeles area business and political leaders for a north-south bullet train. Here are the proposed routes being studied.