Amtrak to Add Another Daily Line in County

Caltrans announced Friday that it is increasing rail service to Ventura County on Oct. 28, adding a second daily train that will carry passengers to and from San Diego and Los Angeles.

Under an agreement signed with Amtrak, there will now be both morning and evening trains between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, in addition to the traditional Coast Starlight, the long-distance service that carries Los Angeles-Seattle passengers along the same route.

The new line will mean more daily stops in Simi Valley and Oxnard, Amtrak spokeswoman Sue Martin said.

A new southbound train will leave Santa Barbara at 3:25 p.m. and stop in Oxnard at 4:10 p.m. and Simi Valley at 4:40 p.m., arriving in Los Angeles at 6 p.m., Martin said.

She said the southbound train now leaves Santa Barbara at 8 a.m. and stops in Oxnard at 8:45 a.m. and Simi Valley at 9:15 a.m., arriving in Los Angeles at 10:30 a.m.

A northbound train now stops in Simi Valley at 10:50 a.m. and Oxnard at 11:21 a.m., arriving in Santa Barbara at 12:05 a.m., Martin said.

A new northbound morning train will leave San Diego at 5:02 a.m. and Los Angeles at 8:20 a.m., arriving in Santa Barbara at 10:25 a.m. The new northbound train will stop in Simi Valley at 9:30 a.m. and in Oxnard at 10 a.m.

A later northbound train stops in Simi Valley at 8:55 p.m. and Oxnard at 9:25 p.m., arriving in Santa Barbara at 10:20 p.m.

Martin said eventually there will be a stop in Ventura when construction of a station there is completed sometime next year, but details have not yet been worked out.

Martin said she did not have figures for the number of people that use the Santa Barbara-to-Los Angeles line but said it has been very successful since it was implemented in June, 1988.

“We feel the Santa Barbara market, as well as the in-between stops, are potentially strong markets,” Martin said. “The more service there is and the more convenient the schedule, the more people will think of train travel as an option.”

The California Department of Transportation said that in addition to stops by the six- to 14-car trains at Oxnard and Simi Valley, there will be stops in Chatsworth, Van Nuys, at the Burbank Airport, in Glendale, Los Angeles, Fullerton, Anaheim, Santa Ana, San Juan Capistrano, Oceanside and Del Mar.

All of these trains are part of what Amtrak calls its San Diegans, which include eight trains a day each way between Los Angeles and San Diego carrying 1.5 million passengers a year. It is the second most-traveled intercity rail corridor in the United States.

The number of trains between Los Angeles and San Diego will not be increased in the new schedule. One more train a day each way will simply be extended to Santa Barbara.

Cindy McKim, head of the rail division at Caltrans, said ridership has been so heavy on the Santa Barbara train inaugurated two years ago that service costs have been more than fully recovered through passenger fares, a comparative rarity in Amtrak service, although San Diegan service as a whole also pays its own way.

In the 1989-90 fiscal year, McKim said, 52,470 passengers rode the southbound train segment between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, while 47,253 passengers rode the northbound train.

Caltrans also announced Friday a promotional fare for the service, beginning Oct. 28 and lasting through April 30 with some blackout periods during the holidays.

The one-way Los Angeles-Santa Barbara fare is normally $18. During the promotion, a same-day round trip will be sold for only $1 more, $19. For trips not completed the same day, the round trip will be $25.

The one-way San Diego-Santa Barbara fare is $29.50. During the promotion, a round trip completed the same day will be $30.50, and a round trip completed in more than one day will be $36.50.

Announcement of the expansion of service comes at a time when the passage of $3 billion in rail bonds by the California electorate and new spending priorities by the California Transportation Commission have raised the prospect of vastly increased commuter and intercity rail service in Southern California in the next few years.

In recent weeks, for example, transportation officials have announced plans to introduce commuter rail service between Los Angeles and such various points as Orange County, San Bernardino, Santa Clarita and Oxnard by 1993. Commuter service is also envisioned in the next few years between San Diego and Oceanside and between Riverside and Santa Ana.

Although these projects have been made part of the state’s latest seven-year transportation plans, officials have cautioned that in many cases local funds are required to provide operating subsidies and some capital investments, thus raising certain doubts whether the plans will be realized, or realized on time. Federal funds may also be required to help develop certain lines.

Another impediment could be a shortage of rail cars, the supply of which has been tight nationally.