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Also ran in Conejo Edition; Shorter version ran in Valley Edition, p. 4
Metrolink trains, carrying thousands of commuters between Ventura and Los Angeles counties, zip across the region each weekday until they reach the Santa Susana Railroad Tunnel.
At the dark, low opening in the Simi Hills, the trains slow to 25 mph, nearly the lowest limit allowed, and they crawl through the 90- year-old passage that was once the main route in and out of the Simi Valley.
"There's a little bit of swaying," said commuter Dan Pratt, describing the ride in the sometimes muddy tunnel.
"The first couple times I went through, I would think (of) things like earthquakes or derailment," said Pratt, who rides Metrolink most weekdays from his home in Simi Valley to work in Burbank. "It's a long tunnel. I can't even see the walls."
Local transportation officials, including Simi Valley Councilman Bill Davis, lobbied unsuccessfully in Washington, D.C., earlier this year for $16 million in federal aid to rebuild the old tunnel.
From top to bottom, the tunnel is in need of an overhaul, say officials who want to mend the concrete shell overhead and fix the railroad tracks beneath. As an interim measure, they plan a $4 million renovation.
"In an ideal world we would have an ideal tunnel. At the same time, we'll operate at slower speeds," said Mary Travis, manager of rail programs for the Ventura County Transportation Commission, which oversees the local portion of the regional rail authority. "It's definitely something we want to take care of. We do think there could be problems in...