Pacific Surfliner

Holiday trips may be more challenging than usual this year, with new security rules in place and bigger crowds predicted. For the first time, according to AAA, more Americans are expected to travel this Thanksgiving, traditionally the year's heaviest travel period, than in 2000, before the Sept. 11 attacks. AAA's estimate is based on a national telephone survey of 1,300 adults. And with Christmas and New Year's on weekends, travel will be concentrated in a shorter period.

With Thanksgiving being one of the busiest driving days of the year in Ventura County, law enforcement officials are increasing patrols and encouraging residents to leave early, like yesterday. "It's always the busiest travel day," said Ray Sandoval, a communications operator at the California Highway Patrol office in Ventura. The Automobile Club of Southern California estimated that more than 2 million people would be on the roads this holiday weekend despite steep gas prices.

The Davis administration outlined plans Monday to spend $892 million from the federal government to ease traffic congestion across the state, including $260 million earmarked for Southern California projects. The plans include $7 million for arterial improvements on the Long Beach Freeway in Pasadena and Los Angeles, $5 million for a Yorba Linda commuter rail station in Orange County, and $700,000 to replace rails from Moorpark to Simi Valley in Ventura County. Gov.

Easing past vehicle traffic, transportation officials and elected leaders took to the rails Wednesday to launch new train service between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, a round-trip line designed in part to help relieve congestion along the Ventura Freeway. Amid a celebratory send-off, the Amtrak train left Union Station at 7:30 a.m., slicing through inner city Los Angeles and fertile Ventura County farm fields before cruising along the sun-kissed Santa Barbara County coastline.

Hoping to capitalize on dissatisfaction with the congestion that plagues California's highways and airports, Amtrak will unveil a $10.1-billion high-speed rail plan today that would allow travelers to get from Los Angeles to San Diego in less than two hours. The statewide plan also envisions a rail corridor that would link downtown Los Angeles with downtown San Francisco by trains capable of reaching speeds of 125 mph.

Hoping to capitalize on dissatisfaction with the congestion that plagues California's highways and airports, Amtrak will unveil a $10.1-billion high-speed-rail plan today that would allow travelers to get from Los Angeles to San Diego in less than two hours--about 20 minutes faster than it now takes to get there from Fullerton. The statewide plan also envisions a rail corridor that would link downtown Los Angeles with downtown San Francisco by trains capable of reaching 125 mph.

What type of contest would really catch the attention of Californians? Well, Amtrak is holding a drawing in which the grand prize will be "$5,000 toward a face lift." Billboards advertising the give-away carry such startling messages as "Your face could stop a train." (Just what you want to read while mired in a traffic jam.) To qualify for the knife, you need only be an adult resident of California. No photos are necessary. And you don't have to climb aboard a choo-choo.

Capitalizing on dissatisfaction with California's airport and highway congestion, Amtrak today will unveil a high-speed rail plan allowing travelers to get from Los Angeles to San Diego in less than two hours. The $10.1-billion plan would also make it easier for Ventura County residents to get to Los Angeles and points south when Amtrak adds three round-trip trains to the existing four that travel between San Diego and Santa Barbara daily.

Surfers to the left. San Clemente cliff-dwellers to the right. And in their reclining seats, Carmen Zambada and Jewel Smick passed judgment Thursday on the new Amtrak train whisking them from San Diego to Los Angeles. "Smooth, very smooth," said Zambada, 66, of San Diego. "Plush everywhere, not just in first-class," said Smick, 68, of National City.

Two workers inspecting railroad tracks for Metrolink were struck and killed by a fast-moving Amtrak train Tuesday in Laguna Niguel. Adam Underwood, 40, of Fountain Valley, and Antonio Almanza, 61, of Los Angeles, died instantly, authorities said. The deaths of the two men, part of a five-member contract crew checking clips and pins in the track, are believed to be the first time a Metrolink employee or contractor has been killed in a train accident, leaving officials wondering what went wrong."