COASTAL CITIES URGE UPGRADED RAIL ROUTE : PROPOSAL CHEAPER THAN NEW CENTRAL VALLEY LINE, BACKERS SAY.Byline: Kermit Pattison Daily News Staff Writer Imagine stepping on a train in Ventura County, sinking into a comfortable seat and gazing out the window as the green hills and Pacific coast whiz past at speeds up to 110 mph. Six hours later, you step off in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden . It's a dream shared by transportation officials who hope someday to upgrade the rail line through Ventura County and other coastal communities, cutting three hours from train trips between Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and San Francisco. Officials are quietly sounding out the possibility of improving the coastal rail line for faster travel between the cities. Boosters in Ventura County and other coastal communities believe the coastal route can be upgraded for a fraction of the cost of another high-speed rail High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions include 200-320 km/h (125-200 mph) - depending on whether the track is upgraded or new - by the European Union and above 90 mph line proposed for the Central Valley, which would cost up to $16 billion. ``It's certainly a lower-cost option,'' said Chris Stephens, manager of planning and highway programs for the Ventura County Transportation Commission. ``I think anybody familiar with California geography would agree the coast route serves far more people. And it's certainly more scenic.'' A recent study concluded trains could knock three hours off the travel time between Los Angeles and San Francisco for $647 million in improvements to the Southern Pacific coastal line. The study concluded trains could travel at 110 mph with improved crossings, new signals and high-speed tilt trains. For a smaller investment of $202 million, the study said trains could travel at 79 mph, reducing travel between the two cities by just under two hours. The main coastal passenger train, the Coast Starlight, takes nearly 11 hours between Los Angeles and Oakland with local stops. The 420-mile Southern Pacific Lines coastal route now carries some Amtrak Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corp., authorized to operate virtually all intercity passenger railroad routes in the United States. Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 in response to more than two decades of continuous operating deficits by privately run passenger trains and freights. The existing track needs work in some areas and allows speeds between 15 mph and 79 mph for passenger trains, said Southern Pacific spokesman Mike Furtney. Meanwhile, a state commission is studying a proposal to build a new 400-mile high-speed rail through the Central Valley between San Francisco and Los Angeles, with extensions to San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. and Sacramento. The proposal would require construction of new tracks and cost between $11 billion and $16 billion. An express trip between downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or and San Francisco would take two hours 40 minutes for very high-speed trains and about two hours for magnetic-levitation trains, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the California Intercity High Speed Rail Commission. Dan Leavitt, executive director of the commission, said the proposal to upgrade the coastal line posed no direct competition to the Central Valley high-speed rail route. He said the Central Valley route would offer much faster service between the two cities, while the slower coastal route would be more suited to local passengers and tourists. ``They're very different projects,'' Leavitt said. ``They serve different markets. If there's any competition, it's not for what the services would do, but for taxpayer money.'' The Intercity High Speed Rail Commission will finish a preliminary study by the end of this year. Leavitt said the project would probably require voter approval of some kind of new tax for construction. ``The capital costs are going to be largely publicly financed,'' said Leavitt. ``That's going to take some kind of a tax increase, whether it's a sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. or gas tax or something like that.'' Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. Councilman Bill Davis For the artist, animator, creative director, see . For the baseball player, see .
``The real high-speed rail that's billions of dollars is never going to happen,'' he said. ``That's way out of the realm.'' But improvements to the coastal route also face a huge hurdle. The California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is a government agency in the U.S. state of California. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems in California. cannot afford to spend hundreds of millions to dollars to improve the rail system and has told the counties to look for their own sources of funding. ``It would be nice to do, but we're not sure we could get that,'' said Charles Davis, office chief in charge of intercity rail operations for the Caltrans office in Sacramento. ``It's a question of cost. There's not that much money at this point.'' |
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