California high-speed rail line to begin

SACRAMENTO, California (3 December) – The California High Speed Rail Authority board voted yesterday to begin construction of a high speed rail line in the state’s Central Valley near Fresno. The new line would some day link Los Angeles to the Bay Area. The decision followed a mandate from the Federal Railroad Administration in October that directed that all Federal funding awarded to the project so far be dedicated to a single portion of the project in the Central Valley.

Construction will begin with a 65-mile [105 km] stretch of track that would start north of Fresno near Madera, include the construction of two new stations (one in downtown Fresno and the other east of Hanford), and continue to Corcoran, north of Bakersfield. The initial segment will use about $4.15 billion of the available $4.3 billion to build two new stations, acquire rights-of-way, construct viaducts, prepare the site, grade, restore vegetation, build bridges, realign roadways, and relocate existing railroads and utilities.

“Other states are shrinking from the challenge of high speed rail. In California, we’re rising to meet it,” Authority Vice Chair Tom Umberg said in a news release. “And we’re sending a clear signal to Washington – we’re ready to put those dollars to use – north toward Merced and the Bay Area and south toward Bakersfield and Los Angeles.”

No construction can begin until the Authority completes environmental reviews of the project. The federal deadline for completing these reviews is September 2011, and construction is expected to begin in 2012 and finish in 2017. The entire route would be complete in 2030.

SACRAMENTO (6 December) – California officials are putting together a backup plan in case the proposed high speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles never fully materializes. Officials are discussing a plan with Amtrak, BNSF Railway, and Caltrans, which would shorten passenger train times along the initial segment approved last week

If put into effect, the federally required backup plan would tie the new route’s northern and southern ends to BNSF lines already used by Amtrak’s San Joaquin service, the Bakersfield Californian reported. Passenger trains would be able to go 105 mph or more over at least 54 miles of new high speed track, up from the present 79 mph. The Federal Railroad Administration required the California High Speed Rail Authority to have a fail-safe plan ensuring that the proposal would have “independent utility” – that it would be functional even if the rest of the project is not fully built.

Officials say that the backup plan is mostly just a concept at this point, since they are focused on building the entire 800-mile system. Construction of the first leg is expected to begin in 2012 and finish in 2017.