POINT: HSST TRAINS ARE BETTER ANSWER TO TRANSIT WOES.

Byline: David Fleming and Viggo Butler

USING high-speed maglev - magnetic levitation - trains to help solve Southern California's transportation gridlock has become a prime focus of the Southern California Association of Governments. While SCAG should receive some credit for seeking solutions to our traffic woes, maglev is not it.

Our freeways are already among the most congested in the nation, and with the five-county region expected to add 5.2 million more residents over the next 20 years, the crunch will only get worse. In order to meet the transportation demands of this ever-increasing population, the entire community needs to step up and play a role in finding a solution that will be popular with users and sound financially.

The business community, for one, is ready to get involved. A group of concerned business leaders has created the Critical Infrastructure Council, hosted by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, to study alternative solutions for the transport of goods and people. Our council has taken a preliminary look at the SCAG proposal comments and we agree with Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter regarding the unproven nature of high-speed maglev technology, the questionable use of an inter-urban system for an intra-urban area and the need to connect airports to population centers.

We would add that SCAG's projected cost and fare structure is so steep that most commuters will be unable to afford to ride maglev, making private financing problematic.

The Critical Infrastructure Council does, however, believe that an advanced train system may be an appropriate solution for Southern California.

One possibility is to opt for a proven but slower version of maglev that has been developed in Japan. Known as HSST (High Speed Surface Transport), this version of train was designed for use within urban areas and is capable of top speeds ranging from 80 to 120 mph. HSST, in which vehicles are propelled by a linear-motor along a track over which it magnetically levitates without using any wheels, has the following advantages:

--HSST could be built much more quickly and for less than half the cost of high-speed maglev. Costs are also greatly reduced because HSST doesn't use expensive superconducting magnets and the passenger cars are less expensive to build;

--HSST is designed for frequent stops and hence is more commuter- friendly.

--HSST could use the same above freeway medians rights-of-way as the SCAG proposal.

--Since the technology costs so much less, and enables much greater ridership, we could afford to build a more extensive system serving more communities. We suggest a north-south route along the 405 Freeway connecting Orange County, Long Beach, the South Bay, West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley geared to serve daily commuters as well as those traveling to 405-adjacent airports.

--With a 160 mph upgrade in development, HSST could ultimately be extended to Palmdale and San Diego.

--When connected with high-speed busways, HSST would provide a more comprehensive system reaching a greater user base.

We shouldn't focus exclusively on high-speed maglev simply because the federal government will pay a portion of the overall cost. And we shouldn't be drawing lines in the sand either. We need to come together as a community to find an answer that addresses our collective needs and improves our quality of life.