Earth Equity News

Cities Not on Track with California High-Speed Rail. By Daisy Nguyen, AP, March 8, 2010. "Mayor Art Brown [Buena Park, CA] spent years pushing for a commuter train station combined with nearby housing in his community. But as townhouses are being finished around the $14 million Metrolink station, he's facing the prospect that California's high-speed rail line may plow right through his beloved project. 'The only option they presented to us was either losing the condo units or losing our train station,' Brown said of an engineering presentation to city leaders last year. That a successful effort to get car-dependent Californians to embrace mass transit could be derailed by another transportation project may strike some as ironic. But it's also one of the hidden costs -- and a potential harbinger of delay -- in the ambitious plan that would enable passengers to speed the 430 miles between Los Angeles and San Francisco in just 2 1/2 hours. The conflict is one of many the California High Speed Rail Authority will have to resolve as it races to meet a September 2011 deadline to finish environmental work or risk losing a $2.25 billion federal grant. 'The idea that they would spend millions for a new station and remove it is a colossal waste of time and money,' said Mark Goldsmith, a resident of the 'transit village' next to the Buena Park station. The first phase of the $43 billion project is planned to span about 520 miles from San Francisco south to Anaheim by 2020, with extensions northeast to Sacramento and south to San Diego by 2026. The 220 mph trains are projected to carry 41 million riders annually by 2035."

"In 2008, state voters approved the sale of $10 billion in bonds to help build the 800-mile system. Then Congress set aside $8 billion for high-speed rail as part of President Barack Obama's push to combine stimulus spending on infrastructure with job creation…In announcing the funding in January, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said California was getting the largest share of the $8 billion because the state had the most advanced plans. However, local officials said they were not adequately consulted by the high-speed rail authority and are demanding a thorough review…A high-speed rail authority official insists the agency has been communicating with city planning departments since 2005, but that local officials paid little attention until the stimulus funds were approved."