OCEANSIDE -- The over-budget Sprinter light rail line will cost an additional $55 million to finish.

The North County Transit District's board of directors voted 5-3 Thursday -- with county Supervisor Bill Horn absent -- to increase the project's budget from $385 million to $440 million. The original cost estimate for the 22-mile east-west rail line -- currently under construction from Oceanside to Escondido -- was $351.5 million.

In order to cover the additional $55 million, the transit district will ask the San Diego Association of Governments today for an additional $34 million in transportation funds, temporarily taken from the construction budget for managed lanes on Interstate 15.

A budget document presented to the board Thursday states that the transfer of funds would not slow down the I-15 project and would be restored before they are needed. The district would have to scrounge for the additional $9 million through borrowing or through another, as-yet-undecided revenue source.

Tom Lichterman, the district's director of transportation services, told the board that increased costs were caused by various factors, including numerous problems with the Sprinter's design, which had to be reworked by engineers, resulting in lost construction time and increased costs.

"There have been a number of design issues we have had to contend with on the project," Lichterman said, though he did not elaborate on exactly what those issues were or how much they cost the project as a whole.

When complete, the Sprinter line will include 15 stations in Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos and Escondido and will stop at both Palomar College and Cal State San Marcos. The district expects more than 10,000 daily boardings during the line's first year of operation.

He said project planners also failed to correctly predict the amount of materials necessary to build the line, resulting in extra orders for some parts and extra work for builder West Coast Rail Constructors. In addition, the director also said Hurricane Katrina, which drove up costs for commodities like steel and concrete nationwide, also contributed to pushing the cost of the Sprinter past the $400 million mark.

Board members who voted against increasing the Sprinter's budget said they wanted certain amenities, from landscaping to sound walls, restored. Many of those items were stripped from the project during a round of cost cutting.

"Now that we are going for the additional money, lets put these things back in," said Hal Martin, the representative from San Marcos.

Shari Mackin of Oceanside added that her city expected more amenities, like better landscaping along the margins of the railroad where it parallels Oceanside Boulevard.

"My direction from my council, and from the citizens who have called me, is to not include this unless the betterments are included," Mackin said.

Bob Campbell of Vista said his council also told him to vote no unless he was able to obtain a firm commitment that the district would construct protective sound walls between the tracks and several residential neighborhoods.

Lichterman and Karen King, the district's executive director, said that there will be landscaping throughout the Sprinter project, though it will not be lavish. For example, for the stretch of rail along Oceanside Boulevard, Lichterman said landscaping would consist of "ground cover" plants. He added that sound walls may be built in Vista if a noise study finds they are warranted.

Those who voted for the amended budget said they simply had no other choice, since Sprinter construction is already past the midway point.

Board Chairman Jerome Stocks noted that, while the finished Sprinter line will not be perfect, it will definitely look better than the old freight line that is there today.

"Yeah, we're not dinging the bell at the fair, but we are better than the existing conditions," Stocks said.

Since the project's construction contract was first awarded, the Sprinter's budget has long been headed toward the $400 million mark.

In 2002, the district received a $152 million transportation grant from the federal government to help pay for the Sprinter. At that time, the project's budget was estimated to be $351.5 million. In July 2004, the board voted to increase the Sprinter's budget from $351 million to $375 million. Less than one year later, the board again increased the cost of the project to $385 million. The project's completion date also slipped from 2005 to Dec. 31, 2007.

At the time the district cited several reasons why the budget increased over its original $351 million estimate. Many of those reasons, including a two-year lag in project approvals from the Federal Transit Authority and the California Public Utilities Commission, were cited again Thursday as reasons why the budget increased.

A major contributor, Lichterman said, was a need to keep the rail line open to freight traffic during construction so that three Escondido manufacturing businesses could continue to receive regular delivery of raw materials.

He said that because contractors can never remove more rail than they can replace in one week, the project generally has 15 to 17 separate construction crews working in different locations each week. The original plan, he said, was simply to begin building in Escondido and finish in Oceanside.

Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.