Agency Backs Railway Funding

The Federal Transit Administration told Congress on Friday that it plans to approve a $490-million grant for the construction of a six-mile light railway connecting East Los Angeles and downtown.

The decision, spelled out in a letter to the House and Senate transportation and finance committees, is considered a huge step forward at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The MTA badly wants to build the railway and has been waiting months for the transit administration to say it will fund the project.

The decision doesn’t mean federal money would soon flow to the $898-million project.

Congress has 60 days to review the MTA’s proposal before the transit administration can finalize a grant contract.

However, any objections raised in Congress could delay or threaten the project.

Congress also must find a way to include the railway in the federal budget, no small task since Congress and the White House are wrangling over a massive transportation spending bill.

For several months, the transit administration has been reviewing the railway proposal and weighing the MTA’s ability to control construction costs and pay for train operations.

When bids for construction came in about $100 million more than expected, the MTA had to trim project costs, partly through design changes.

The MTA would finance the project with a combination of federal, state and local money.

In the letter, transit administrator Jennifer Dorn said that she was confident the MTA could keep costs down and that the railway would be successful -- carrying as many as 23,000 riders daily by 2020.

The MTA hopes to open the line by 2009.

The railway would connect with the recently finished Gold Line and link Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. It would serve some of the region’s most transit-dependent neighborhoods.