Metrolink

Metrolink's board of directors on Friday hired a former railroad vice president with broad transportation experience to replace David R. Solow, the embattled chief executive who became controversial following the September 2008 Chatsworth crash. After a nationwide search for candidates, the commuter rail service selected John E. Fenton as its chief executive. The appointment will become effective April 16. Fenton's salary and benefits had not been finalized and were unavailable Friday.

The Metrolink commuter rail service plans to increase fares as early as July to help reduce a $13-million budget deficit largely caused by rising fuel and labor costs, railroad officials said Thursday. If approved, the proposed increase of 5% to 9% will cover only part of the shortfall, making it necessary for Metrolink to seek additional subsidies from the five county transportation agencies that help fund the railroad. "The current economic climate, including soaring fuel prices, requires tough decisions by transportation leaders to fund operations at a level that will continue to meet the region's transportation needs," said John Fenton, Metrolink's chief executive officer.

The first "Beach Train" rolled into San Clemente on Saturday morning, providing more than 500 Inland Empire residents a new way to beat the heat and avoid traffic hassles. The trains, operated by Metrolink, will run on the third Saturday of each month through summer, traveling from Rialto to San Clemente with stops in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Inaugural commuters, some of whom had never been to the beach, praised the service's convenience.

Metrolink Chief Executive John Fenton, who worked to improve the service and safety of the struggling commuter line following the deadly Chatsworth crash, announced his resignation Monday to head a Florida-based railroad company. Fenton's departure after not quite 25 months on the job leaves Metrolink with a leadership vacuum at a time when the operation is trying to bolster ridership, reduce costs and install cutting-edge safety measures, such as positive train control, a sophisticated collision-avoidance system.

Metrolink is preparing to open its fifth train station in two weeks on the Santa Clarita line, which has seen ridership swell dramatically since the Jan. 17 Northridge quake crippled many Southland freeways. The Santa Clarita/Princessa station, at 19201 Via Princessa, will open Monday. It is the latest emergency station to open since Metrolink extended service north to the Antelope Valley--opening stations in Lancaster and Palmdale on Jan. 24.

Metrolink Chief Executive John Fenton, who worked to improve the service and safety of the struggling commuter line following the deadly Chatsworth crash, announced his resignation Monday to head a Florida-based railroad company. Fenton's departure after not quite 25 months on the job leaves Metrolink with a leadership vacuum at a time when the operation is trying to bolster ridership, reduce costs and install cutting-edge safety measures, such as positive train control, a sophisticated collision-avoidance system.

As the anniversary of the Sept. 12 Chatsworth train disaster approaches, officials with Southern California's sprawling commuter rail service are facing a vexing array of technical, financial and potential legal challenges as they struggle to deliver on pledges of trailblazing safety reforms. A burst of energy to remake the region's Metrolink train operation was unleashed by the deadliest rail collision in modern California history, a watershed event that killed 25, injured 130 and prompted landmark federal mandates to modernize the nation's rail safety systems.

Within weeks of a commuter rail disaster in Chatsworth last fall, Metrolink engineers twice did the same thing that is suspected to have led to the deadly head-on collision with a freight train: They ran through red signal lights warning them to stop, records show. Counting the Sept. 12 crash that killed 25 people and injured 135, the recent red-light violations exceeded the number of stop-signal mishaps reported over the previous two years, a Times review of internal records found.

A brush fire burning in the Acton area Tuesday afternoon disrupted Metrolink service and forced the closure of Soledad Canyon Road, officials said. The blaze had burned at least one structure and scorched about 20 acres near the 4700 block of West Crown Valley Road. The blaze has burned at least 40 acres, officials said. Fire crews were battling to protect structures threatened by flames as four helicopters dropped water on the blaze. Metrolink said lines were closed north of the Via Princess station.

The best bargain in Ventura County is Metrolink. All aboard. Peter Borh noted in an article he wrote that "each time your car's odometer rolls over another mile, it costs you 38.7 cents--assuming you drive an American-made sedan about 15,000 miles a year." A hundred-mile commute adds up to show what a great bargain Metrolink truly is. It's also a great way to fight the traffic. ALTHEA WHITE Port Hueneme

A brush fire burning in the Acton area Tuesday afternoon disrupted Metrolink service and forced the closure of Soledad Canyon Road, officials said. The blaze had burned at least one structure and scorched about 20 acres near the 4700 block of West Crown Valley Road. The blaze has burned at least 40 acres, officials said. Fire crews were battling to protect structures threatened by flames as four helicopters dropped water on the blaze. Metrolink said lines were closed north of the Via Princess station.

As cars whizzed by and trucks honked, two dozen members of the East Side Riders from Watts slowly pedaled their cruisers up Central Avenue early Sunday. Their destination was seven miles away: CicLAvia, a rare opportunity to enjoy 10 miles of car-free streets in downtown Los Angeles and beyond and to soak up the spirit of what turned out to be a citywide block party. "Watts in the house!" boomed a disc jockey as the group pulled into the African American Firefighter Museum and joined an estimated 100,000 people who biked, walked or skated block after block without having to dodge a car or bus. "Right now they're going to get a chance to ride the streets without cars interfering with their leisurely bike ride," John Jones said of his fellow Riders members.

SACRAMENTO - The bullet train boondoggle is looking more like a bullet bull's-eye. But one big question lingers: Where are the bucks? And even if the state can find the bucks, should it spend them on building a high-speed rail line, a cool choo-choo? Especially when higher education in California is such a train wreck? Education - kindergarten through college - should be our No. 1 priority, for both moral and economic reasons. Producing an educated, skilled workforce for the increasingly competitive global economy is even more important than creating temporary track-laying jobs.

The Metrolink commuter railroad held a safety workshop Tuesday for officials responsible for overseeing transportation agencies that operate buses, trains, subways and light rail lines throughout the region. The one-day program at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles brought together federal and state safety experts, transportation agency executives and members of transportation commissions in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. The program included presentations by National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt and former Deputy Secretary of Transportation Mortimer Downey, who now serves on the Washington Metro board of directors.

In a major shift in thinking about the state's bullet train, powerful transportation agencies in Northern and Southern California want to quickly obtain up to half the project's bond financing to upgrade local rail corridors that could become part of the proposed high-speed network. Until recently, the project was expected to draw down only $2.7 billion of its $9-billion bond fund in coming years to help pay for a 130-mile rail segment in the Central Valley. But the new proposals call for potentially spending an additional $4 billion upfront, which would leave just a few billion in the state's voter-approved finance package.

More than three years after the deadly Metrolink crash in Chatsworth, the commuter railroad is forging ahead with the most sophisticated collision avoidance system in the country despite efforts in Congress to relax requirements to install the safety improvement nationwide. Metrolink already has made substantial progress developing its $201-million positive train control system, which uses an array of electronic gear to monitor and, if necessary, take control of trains to prevent collisions and derailments.

Re "Crash thrusts Metrolink's chief into the limelight," Dec. 11 It's bad enough that Metrolink became the nation's deadliest commuter operation on Southern California Regional Rail Authority chief David R. Solow's watch, but for him to say that "it's not in my best interest to talk about the accident" is simply appalling. In the words of a railroader of another era, William Henry Vanderbilt, "The public be damned!" Bryan Reese Pasadena

Re: Jan. 25 article "Earthquake Will Bring Metrolink to Camarillo." I am proposing that a better expenditure of $500,000 to $900,000 in FEMA funds would be construction of an airport terminal at Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Center. There is already a fully built and functioning Amtrak transportation center in Oxnard for people of Camarillo or Ventura. FERDINAND PINA Oxnard

Metrolink has a goodie that lasts  beyond Christmas: two-for-one fares for weekday travelers during off-peak hours. This discount applies to all lines through the end of the month and all day Jan. 2. The deal: The discount works for those traveling between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday-Friday on selected lines . It also includes two-for-one fares all day on Jan. 2, the day of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, though service is limited to San...

Heads up for those thinking about hopping on a train this weekend to go Christmas shopping in Orange and San Diego counties. Metrolink and Amtrak are canceling some rail service this weekend because construction crews will be installing a second main track and rail bridges along the L.A.-San Diego-San Luis Obispo rail corridor. Metrolink will cancel service on its Orange County and Inland Empire lines on Saturday and Sunday. It's also canceling trains 644 and 645 on Friday.