WARY OF FREIGHT COUNCIL DROPS RAIL-LINE BACKING.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Tourists visiting Santa Clarita on vintage railroad cars would be fine but extending a rail line so freight could pass through from a beefed up Port Hueneme would not, city officials say.

City Council members backed off supporting a plan to extend tracks from Fillmore into the western Santa Clarita Valley for a picturesque rail line while they investigate possible ramifications.

``We do not want to see freight,'' said Mayor Laurene Weste, who helped nix a freight proposal years ago.

A plan envisions extending the Santa Paula Branch Line rail tracks from Fillmore into Santa Clarita to the Fillmore and Western Railway can run its theme trains into town.

Councilman Cameron Smyth urged caution in supporting the project in its current form, because locally imposed limitations could be pre-empted by the federal government, which could back freight passage.

Newhall Land and Farming Co., which owns land where some track could be laid, set aside right-of-way in its 21,000-home Newhall Ranch specific plan to allow for the line, said Glen Adamick, the company's vice president of planning. While the company generally supports extending the tracks for tourism and commuters, it would oppose freight transport.

A local transportation guru said the project could benefit the area but advised officials to consider anything beyond a modest tourist line with caution.

Connie Worden-Roberts said Port Hueneme officials have approached her with an ``extremely ardent'' desire to extend the line to the city.

``It is their intention to vastly expand the port and to compete with the Long Beach and San Pedro ports who currently import 45 percent of all the imports throughout the entire United States,'' said Worden-Roberts, chair of the local chamber of commerce transportation committee and Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich's appointee to the North County Transportation Coalition.

She urged study of the proposed alignment and alternate routes that could skirt the city.

A $177,000 study under way by the Ventura County Transportation Commission, which owns the rail right-of-way from Montalvo station in Ventura to Rancho Camulos, just west of Santa Clarita, suggests some freight hauling may be needed to pay for the rail.

``There's lots of funding for track work for freight,'' said Kerry Forsythe, the commission's deputy director. ``The revenue you get from freight helps underwrite the passenger service.''

Extending the line from Port Hueneme to Santa Clarita could cost $300 million to $500 million, up from the $250 million estimated by the state Business, Housing and Transportation Agency in January. The cost includes repairs and upgrades to existing track.

The commission's draft study is due in September, but Forsythe said no more than one to two trains would likely run a day. He disagreed that Port Hueneme aims to rival ports to the south, saying it is not a container destination like Los Angeles or Long Beach ports. Hueneme handles mostly autos and bulk products like fertilizer and produce, he said.

Forsythe said if the proposed 56.1 million-ton Cemex sand and gravel mine operates in Soledad Canyon, transporting the material by train could relieve truck congestion on the highways. And when residents move in to the Newhall Ranch homes, many could hop trains to jobs in Los Angeles and reduce congestion on Interstate 5, which handles tens of thousands of cars a day.

Another option under study is running small Metrolink trains on the line, which would be quieter and more fuel efficient than larger trains, he said. The line could connect the city to the sea and to the Antelope Valley, and Amtrak trains could be in the mix.

Forsythe said the Santa Paula branch line needs to be a Southern Pacific main line.

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