Officials Consider 2-Mile Fence for Metrolink Route : Transit: Seven people have been killed by the trains, five in Pacoima, Sylmar and Sun Valley. If approved, the barrier could be in place by May.

Prompted by a cluster of Metrolink fatalities in the San Fernando Valley, county transportation officials are scheduled Wednesday to consider a proposal to install two miles of wrought-iron fencing along tracks in Sylmar, San Fernando and Pacoima.

A March 5 Metrolink accident that took the lives of a teen-age San Fernando couple--the sixth and seventh deaths since the commuter service began in October--added urgency to consideration of the proposal, which will be presented to a committee of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, officials said.

The accident was the fifth in a seven-mile stretch of Metrolink track in the northeast Valley. There have been two other fatalities, one in Chatsworth, the other in Simi Valley.

In addition to fencing along the tracks from Astoria Street in Sylmar to Vaughn Street in Pacoima, the proposal asks the Finance and Programming Committee to approve about $800,000 to install warning signs, build trenches in some areas and intensify a broad-based educational program already offered in schools and businesses along the Metrolink route.

If approved by the committee, the proposal will go before the entire Transportation Commission on March 24. The fence could be installed as early as late April or May, said Metrolink spokesman Peter Hidalgo.

In the past, Metrolink officials said that installing fencing along Metrolink tracks would be impractical, considering that the system will eventually extend to more than 400 miles of track. But the proposed fencing program in the Valley is considered a pilot project that, if successful, can be duplicated in other highly populated areas, they said.

The proposal was good news for school officials at San Fernando Middle School, the only campus along the 35-mile commuter line between Santa Clarita and Los Angeles.

“We are all for it,” said Assistant Principal Rita Davis. “I just wish they had put it up sooner.”

Davis said school officials have worried about the threat Metrolink trains pose for the 2,100-member student body.

She said they have repeatedly requested that Metrolink or Los Angeles Unified School District officials build a stronger barrier between the campus and the tracks. A 12-foot chain-link fence currently stands between students and the tracks.

The Transportation Commission purchased the tracks between Burbank and Santa Clarita in December from the Southern Pacific Transportation Co. From a liability standpoint, Hidalgo said, the fence and other programs demonstrate that Metrolink is making an extra effort to keep pedestrians off the tracks.

In the most recent accident, Marc Charles Ballin, 16, and Flora Carpio, 15, were struck and killed as they walked along railroad tracks in Sylmar, despite the engineer’s frantic use of the whistle as the train bore down on them at 50 m.p.h.

In February, Apolinar Arellano, 32, of Sun Valley was struck and killed while sitting on tracks near San Fernando Road and Sunland Boulevard in Sun Valley.

In December, Epifanio Ascencio Lopez, 31, of Pacoima died instantly after skirting a barrier and walking onto tracks in Pacoima despite warning bells and flashing lights.

The first fatal Metrolink accident occurred Nov. 25, when a truck driven by Jaime Farias, 37, of Los Angeles was struck at an unmarked crossing in Pacoima.

Farias’ family filed a $5-million wrongful death claim that was rejected last week by the regional board governing Metrolink.