PRIVATE VALLEY RAIL?; CONSORTIUM PROPOSES LINE ALONG 101 FREEWAY MEDIAN.

Byline: David Bloom  Daily News Staff Writer

With hopes fading for a federally funded San Fernando Valley rail line, a consortium of private firms revealed a proposal Friday to build a privately funded $1.1 billion rail transit line in the median of the Ventura Freeway.

At a time of shrinking federal budgets and mounting criticism of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's rail construction program, the proposal by well-known builder Morrison Knudsen Corp. and several partners revives Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich's agenda for a freeway rail line.

And it introduces a new twist to the highly politicized issue of how and where to build a transit line for the Valley.

The basic fare would be $1.35 for the first three miles and 10 cents more per mile after that. The first leg would run 13 miles from Woodman Avenue to the Glendale Freeway and be complete be 2002. No timetable was offered for the second leg west to Valley Circle Boulevard and the third leg east to Pasadena.

Backers claim they will offer service every four minutes during rush hour at speeds up to 60 mph.

``What you have is a realistic, cost-effective program bringing transit to the San Fernando Valley, and unlike the bankrupt subway, the taxpayers will not be impacted,'' Antonovich said.

``The current system has been a financial disaster. When the private sector gets involved, we'll have a system that will provide the mass transit system the Valley needs.''

Valley community leaders were skeptical of the proposal, saying they doubted a private consortium could make a rail line pay, when publicly built lines must be heavily subsidized.

``The one thing it proves to me is they're great at writing proposals,'' said Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino and chairman of a coalition or residents who live along the Ventura Freeway and are opposed to a freeway rail line. ``Whether they can build good rail is another thing and that takes close public scrutiny.''

The written proposal was submitted to the MTA on Friday, but MTA officials said they had not opened it and could not comment.

Before the project could go ahead, a series of hurdles will have to be passed, including the completion of an in-depth ``investment grade'' study of ridership potential on the line, McCoy and others said. Such a study would be needed before the bonds could be issued, so bond buyers could be assured of the project's chances of success.

It envisions a first phase in the freeway median from Woodman Avenue in Sherman Oaks to the Glendale Freeway that would open by 2002, a year after the Red Line subway is expected to open as far as North Hollywood.

It includes construction of a third Red Line station in the Valley, where the subway would go under the Ventura Freeway so that passengers could transfer from the freeway rail line to the subway.

And it proposes extensive commercial and office development in certain areas along the route, primarily in Burbank and Glendale where the rail line would be aerial and office towers straddling the freeway are envisioned to generate more revenue.

``Everyone looks at us in total disbelief: How could anyone do it?'' said architect Robert McCoy, whose firm, McCoy Associates, is part of the consortium making the proposal to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

``But the reality is the transit patrons are there if we provide sufficient parking for them. Then there are parking fees, and some commercial development in this.''

In addition to Morrison Knudsen and McCoy, the consortium members are engineering firm Frederic R. Harris Inc. and developer Millennium Partners, who have collectively submitted their proposal under a partnership named Valley Express Transit.

No one in the United States has ever attempted the kind of private-sector rail project deal proposed by the V.E.T. consortium, McCoy said, though its structure is somewhat similar to toll-road projects that have opened in recent years in Denver and Orange County.

The companies themselves are well-established, however. Morrison Knudsen is a prominent construction company, Frederic R. Harris' many rail-related projects include many of the line improvements for the region's Metrolink trains, and McCoy designed the Los Angeles Airport's Bradley International Terminal among other projects.

The project would use heavy-rail cars somewhat like those used on the Metro Red Line subway, said McCoy. He said the $1.1 billion, 13-mile first leg would open in 2002 under the consortium's plan.

The consortium believes it will get 80,000 riders a day, a staggering number given that the 48.5 miles of rail lines operated by the MTA have about 100,000 riders a day.

The $1.35 basic fare and distance surcharge are roughly equal to a long-run bus ride on the MTA now. Despite the cost, McCoy said, the V.E.T. should have no problem attracting riders.

``How long will they have to watch it run by them as they're sitting in traffic before they try it?'' McCoy said. ``It's a very densely traveled corridor that isn't going to get any better.''

He said the train could run across the Valley 25 to 30 minutes faster than a car driving the same route because the trains would be able to hit speeds of 60 mph.

The trains would run every four minutes during rush hour, half as often in off hours. They would be in service from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day.

``Transit, for it to be successful, has to move people from where they are to where they want to go,'' McCoy said. ``It has to be easier, faster and cheaper than what they're now doing.''

The consortium is seeking only a franchise agreement from the MTA and no public funds to build its project, McCoy said. The main public contribution would be freeway right-of-way, and help acquiring neighboring property for parking and related development.

The consortium would create a nonprofit public benefit corporation to issue tax-exempt bonds to finance the project. The consortium would then operate the line for 30 or 35 years, pay off the bonds, then return the system to public hands.

The proposal could reignite a long-simmering battle over what route and type of rail line is best for the Valley.

Nearly three years ago, the MTA board finally decided to build a rail line along rights of way it owned along Burbank and Chandler boulevards from the Metro Red Line station under construction in North Hollywood to Warner Center in Woodland Hills.

But since then, the agency's increasingly troubled finances have pushed a construction start date for its rail line ever farther into the future, past 2007 to 2010 or later.

The first leg of a Valley subway on the Burbank-Chandler route would take eight years to build and cost $1.3 billion for a line only from North Hollywood to the San Diego Freeway.

Given the Red Line project's many delays, political leaders in recent weeks have begun publicly acknowledging it won't be built for many years, and more effort should be concentrated on improving bus systems, which are cheaper and quicker to build.

Silver of the Encino homeowners said the project's financial projections are a big question mark because of the lack of a public subsidy.

``That's a hell of a good deal,'' Silver said. ``Somewhere they're going to have to make up a $10- to $20-per-passenger shortfall. I want to know how they're going to do that. If they can't show that, what we're going to wind up with is a couple of glitzy stations, and a half-baked proposal that needs the taxpayers to bail them out.''

He also questioned whether the project could be built without requiring additional right-of-way purchases, which have been part of the ongoing battles over a freeway route.

McCoy said no additional right of way is needed for the project beyond what the California Department of Transportation already owns.

But because of political opposition in the West Valley, the consortium also would look at the possibility of moving a second 13-mile phase between Woodman Avenue and Valley Circle north to the Burbank-Chandler right-of-way in that area, McCoy said.

The line also could be extended east in a third phase to at least Marengo Avenue in Pasadena, where the MTA is planning to build a light rail line from downtown Los Angeles.

The line would run at the same level as the highway and down its center between Woodman Avenue and the Golden State Freeway, then become aerial through most of Glendale and Burbank because of the many overcrossings there caused by the below-grade freeway.

The line would connect - through a new, double-level station at Lankershim Boulevard - with the Metro Red Line subway extension now being built through there to North Hollywood.

FREEWAY RAIL PROPOSAL

Here are the details of a privately funded rail line proposed Friday for the Ventura Freeway median.

The 13-mile first phase would open in 2002 from Woodman Avenue to the Glendale Freeway.

Second phase is planned for Woodman Avenue west to Valley Circle Boulevard.

Line would run at grade in the East Valley and go to an aerial guideway in Burbank and Glendale.

Trains would be heavy rail similar to the Red Line subway.

Fares would be $1.35 for the first three miles and 10 cents for each additional mile.

Trains would travel at 60 mph and run every four minutes during rush hour.

The $1.1 billion project would use no tax money and the rail line would be privately operated under a 30- to 35-year lease.

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Box, Map

Box: FREEWAY RAIL PROPOSAL (See Text)

Map: FREEWAY RAIL PROPOSAL

A private consortium has proposed building a privately funded rail line in the median of the Ventura Freeway with the first phase opening by 2002.