OCEANSIDE -- Congress has given an additional $55 million to the Sprinter light rail line, nearly making good on its promise of $152 million in federal funds for the $375 million project.

The $55 million for the Sprinter for next year was included in a $398 billion governmentwide "omnibus" spending bill passed by the Senate on Saturday, even though the Federal Transit Administration still has not released $48 million approved for the Sprinter last year by Congress.

Karen King, executive director of the North County Transit District, which is building the 22-mile Sprinter commuter line from Oceanside to Escondido, said Monday that she takes the latest appropriation as a signal that the federal government remains committed to the project, which is more than $20 million over its original budget of $351 million.

"I think that it continues to be a strong indication that the (Federal Transit Administration) and Congress believe in the Sprinter," she said.

Caroline Thompson, a legislative specialist for the transit district, said Monday that the $55 million appropriation is the next to last that will be made for the Sprinter. To date, she said that $141.1 of the $152 million promised by Congress has already been voted on, leaving only $10.9 million for one final decision next year.

Thompson, who is in regular communication with federal transit officials, said she does not see any problems with the transit district receiving its $48 million that was dedicated to the project last year.

"It's not a matter of if that money is going to be released, it's a matter of when that money is going to be released," she said.

The Sprinter is scheduled to be completed in December 2007. Though all of the money to build the line is not in the bank, West Coast Rail Constructors has already begun surveying the rail line and recently took delivery of several miles of steel rail that will eventually carry rail cars east and west at 50 miles per hour.

King, who recently flew to Washington, D.C., to meet with transit administration officials, said the government is requiring the local transit district to prove that it has done everything it can to reduce the cost of building the Sprinter before it releases the $48 million.

"The (federal transit administration) has not been comfortable that the contingency we have is enough to complete the project," King said. "They want assurances from us that we have the resources to be able to deliver the project for the amount of money that is budgeted."

She said transit district employees must return to the Sprinter's construction plans and look for areas where construction costs might be reduced.

For example: The main-line construction contract awarded to Vista-based West Coast Rail Constructors includes building a rail bed wide enough for two parallel tracks for the entire railway. However, only three relatively short lengths of the Sprinter's 22-mile main line have two tracks. King said it made sense at first to build the entire railway wide enough for two tracks, making it much easier to come back and lay a second years later.

She said the transit district is working with West Coast Rail Constructors to determine whether narrowing the rail bed in areas with only one track would significantly decrease the Sprinter's cost.

"We have 48 proposals like that we're evaluating," King said. "Some of them we may do, and some of them we may not."

King said the Sprinter project has enough money in the bank from previous federal, state and local funding sources to continue the construction effort while it answers the transportation administration's concerns.

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