California high-speed rail wins approval
California lawmakers approved billions of dollars Friday in construction financing for the initial segment of the nation's first dedicated high-speed rail line connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco.
In a 21-16 vote, the Senate approved a 130 mile (209km) stretch, part of a larger line proposed to run from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
The final cost of the completed LA-San Francisco line is estimated at $68bn.
Governor Jerry Brown had lobbied intensely for the train. After he signs the bill - expected to be a formality - California will begin selling $2.6bn (£1.7bn) in bonds to finance the first segment.
The financing was approved by California's lower house, the Assembly, on Thursday.
The move marked a major political victory for Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown and the Obama administration. Both have promoted bullet trains as job generators and clean transportation alternatives.
"No economy can grow faster than its transportation network allows," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement applauding the legislative vote. "With highways between California cities congested and airspace at a premium, Californians desperately need an alternative."
The action not only represents a breakthrough in transportation policy, it will also help the economy and the state budget immediately due to the massive job creation outlined in the project. High-speed rail will also provide a foundation for ongoing economic prosperity because it provides a solution to our overtaxed transportation system.
After encountering criticism from environmental groups, Gov. Jerry Brown signaled Wednesday that he plans to withdraw his controversial proposal to protect the California bullet train project from injunctions sought by environmental lawsuits.
Brown’s staff told key environmental groups that he would no longer include modifications to the California Environmental Quality Act in a package of legislation this month asking for $6 billion to start construction of the high-speed rail project.
President Obama’s stimulus allocated $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, including, eventually, up to $3.5 billion for California’s project. However, according to the stimulus law, California must begin construction on the project before December 31, 2012 or they will not be eligible for any more high speed rail stimulus dollars. Obama’s Transportation Department reaffirmed this time limit last year when they admitted they had “no administrative authority to change this deadline.”
The bill authorizes the state to begin selling $4.5 billion in voter-approved bonds that includes $2.6 billion to build an initial 130-mile stretch of the high-speed rail line in the Central Valley. That will allow the state to collect another $3.2 billion in federal funding that could have been rescinded if lawmakers failed to act Friday.
Brown pushed for the massive infrastructure project to accommodate expected growth in the nation's most populous state, which now has 37 million people. He said the project is sorely needed to create jobs in a region with higher-than-average unemployment.
Members of the state Senate voted 21-16 along party lines after intense lobbying by Brown, Democratic leaders and labor groups. The bill, which passed the state Assembly on Thursday, now heads to Brown for his signature.
The system will extend from San Francisco and Sacramento, via the Central Valley, to Los Angeles and San Diego via the Inland Empire.
The cost of the initial San Francisco-to-Anaheim segment was originally estimated by the CHSRA to be US$35.7 billion (in 2009 dollars) orUS$42.6 billion, but a revised business plan released in November 2011 by the CHSRA put the cost at US$65.4 billion (in 2010 dollars) orUS$98.5 billion (in "inflated" dollars based on future inflation predictions). An implementation plan approved in August 2005 estimated that it would take eight to eleven years to "develop and begin operation of an initial segment of the California high-speed train." It will also share tracks with Caltrainand Metrolink using a quadruple track configuration.
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