ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : There’s No Free Ride on a Private Train

In its enthusiasm this week to flag through Bechtel Corp.’s proposal to build a high-speed magnetic levitation rail line between Las Vegas and Anaheim, the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission left some important questions unanswered. The answers will have fundamental implications for the region’s overall transportation picture.

One place where the buck will stop down the track is the Legislature, which must also approve the plan. Sacramento should remember one lesson of history: that the public has often been asked to bail out failed private railroads in the past. Legislators must be very clear about how much that risk exists in the bullet- train project.

And how much confidence should anyone have in the German train that Bechtel wants to build when it still is in the test phase? Commission Executive Director Paul Taylor pointed out to the unanimous commission that several consultants had described the Bechtel proposal as vague, lacking even a description of the exact state of present technology. There was even confusion over the cost: Bechtel said $5 billion, while Taylor’s report indicated as much as $7.8 billion.

The biggest unknown remains the problem of public financing. Although Bechtel bills this as a private project, it wants rights of way along the route and is already on record as saying that it might need a cash boost from benefit assessment districts to help cover construction costs and loan interest. So just how public will this private train be?

Then there’s the Palmdale-Los Angeles International Airport line, which is another private venture that is much clearer about its intention to tap into the public coffers. The Perini Corp. has indicated that it would need a public cash subsidy of up to $100 million a year, and the state is being asked to give initial approval next month to that proposal.

One thing to watch is how the prospect of building one train might be used to advocate public expenditures to build another. Palmdale already is envisioned by Bechtel as a possible spur from the Anaheim-Las Vegas line. It wouldn’t be too hard to argue that with some public assistance, we could have this elaborate network serving many points. Each step in the approval process for various “private” proposals could inch the public along toward a costly overall involvement and subsidy.

The dream of millions of tourists riding a bullet train between Anaheim and Las Vegas is fine for the entrepreneurs. But let them pay for it, and let the public beware.