MTA Criticized Over Rail Line Funding
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A San Fernando Valley-based transit official has accused the county Metropolitan Transportation Authority of dragging its feet on securing federal funding for a Valley rail line, but planners said Thursday that the process is on schedule.
In a letter last week to MTA chief Franklin E. White, alternate board director Nick Patsaouras expressed unhappiness with the agency’s progress in applying for federal funds for a rail line from Universal City to Woodland Hills. He said the agency has not initiated studies that would move along the effort to receive federal money.
“I strongly believe staff is neglecting the (Valley) east-west line. . . . What is going on?” Patsaouras wrote.
MTA planners said Thursday that the line remains a priority and noted that they cannot formally submit a request for federal funds until the MTA board decides what form the rail line will take: an elevated railway along the Ventura Freeway median or a subway beneath Burbank and Chandler boulevards.
“We are not dragging our feet. We cannot ‘federalize’ a line until the final alignment is determined,” MTA analyst Judith Wilson said.
A decision on a route is expected this summer, after completion of engineering feasibility studies for the two proposed lines.
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