CITY FILES FOR RAIL LINE REPORTS; OFFICIALS SAY AGENCY INTENTIONALLY WITHHOLDING DATA.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

Claiming their city is being shut out of the decision-making process, Palmdale officials filed a Public Records Act request seeking information on how cost estimates are being made for proposed high-speed rail lines through the Antelope Valley and along Interstate 5.

Palmdale officials said the California High-Speed Rail Authority is withholding passenger estimates, engineering cost reports and other information state officials are using to decide whether a 200- to 300-mph rail line should be built through the Antelope Valley or over the Grapevine.

``We have tried to work with you to bring forth the best possible analysis so that the authority board, legislature and governor can make an informed decision in regards to the future of high-speed rail in California,'' City Manager Bob Toone wrote in a Sept. 8 letter to Mehdi Morshed, executive director of the rail authority.

``You have consistently stood as a roadblock to public participation and input at every possible opportunity.''

In letters to Morshed, Palmdale officials asked for all documentation on passenger estimates, operating revenue forecasts, conceptual engineering and associated capital cost estimates, and operating and maintenance costs. The city is also seeking documentation on the project business plan.

The letters cite the state's Public Records Act, which says that government documents, with specified exceptions, are open to inspection by the public.

The rail authority is studying two possible alignments for a proposed high-speed rail system that would connect San Francisco and Sacramento with Los Angeles. The authority estimates an alignment along Interstate 5 would be less expensive than a route through the Antelope Valley.

John Barna, deputy director of the authority, said Palmdale's request was forwarded to their legal counsel at the attorney general's office.

``We have every intent of providing the city with what they want,'' Barna said. ``We were surprised to get a public records act request. We have been unable to determine where we have been unresponsive.''

Randy Floyd, Palmdale's transportation coordinator, said the city has been trying to get the studies that back the authority's claims that the Interstate 5 route would be cheaper. Those requests, along with requests for feedback on Palmdale's own studies, have been denied.

``They are not giving us the data on how they got those numbers,'' Floyd said. ``We need to know where those numbers are coming from and why this process is being directed against the Antelope Valley.''

In July, after an intense lobbying effort by Antelope Valley and Los Angeles officials, the California High-Speed Rail Authority voted to include an alignment through the High Desert in initial engineering and environmental studies for the proposed 680-mile train system.

Overriding their staff's recommendation to bypass the Antelope Valley, the authority voted to study a route between Bakersfield and Los Angeles that would run over the Tehachapi Mountains into Palmdale. The board also voted to study the staff's recommended alignment along Interstate 5 over the Grapevine Pass.

Rail authority staff say the Grapevine route would cut nine to 14 minutes off travel time and has the potential for 1.48 million more passengers per year in interregional travel than a Palmdale route.

The Grapevine route offers the potential for $46 million more in revenue compared with the Antelope Valley route, according to a rail authority staff report.

Rail authority staff said, however, the Palmdale alignment does offer a route that is likely to have fewer environmental hurdles to overcome when compared with the Grapevine route, which would go through the Angeles National Forest.

Supporters of the Antelope Valley alignment argue there is greater opportunity for economic development than with the Grapevine route - as much a`s $500 million more, according to consultants hired by the city of Palmdale.

The Palmdale alignment also has the backing of Los Angeles and Kern counties; the cities of Los Angeles, Palmdale and Lancaster; the Antelope Valley Board of Trade; home-building giant Kaufman and Broad; and the chambers of commerce for Palmdale and Lancaster.

The Rail Authority is scheduled to present a financing plan for a high-speed rail system to the state Legislature in early 2000. The timetable would allow lawmakers to put whatever funding mechanism is chosen - such as a tax measure - on the November 2000 ballot.

Exactly when a final decision on the Palmdale alignment would be made isn't clear. It is possible that both the Palmdale and Grapevine options could be included in the plan presented to the Legislature.

The rail system is expected to cost $28.3 billion if the rail authority chooses high-speed rail technology that already is in use and would create a system for trains traveling 200 mph, or as much as $31.6 billion if it chooses emerging maglev technology, using magnetic fields to propel trains at speeds up to 310 mph.