The Fresno BEE today reports that most of the $1.2 billion refused by Ohio and Wisconsin for high-speed rail will go to California, according to an announcement yesterday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
California will get up to $616 million of the forfeited money, significantly increasing federal backing for the state's ambitious high-speed train plans. Thursday's announcement brings to more than $3.5 billion the federal funds earmarked for high-speed rail in the state....The federal government is requiring that virtually all the money be used in the central San Joaquin Valley.
First reported by the BEE online yesterday as "State may get $624m for high-speed rail", today the front-page headline reads: "State gets rail fund infusion: Reallocation means longer initial track." Included in the reallocation is $616 million for high speed rail, and $8 million to Caltrans for upgrading inner-city rail lines.
Some of the extra funds will provide for the design of two more stations and perhaps allow an extension of the system's first segment to Bakersfield. Previously, the first piece of the Los Angeles-San Francisco system was to be a 54-mile stretch (from Borden south of Madera through Fresno to Corcoran in Kings County) built with federal and state funds starting in late 2012.
The report notes that California's matching funds will come from a $9.9 billion high-speed rail bond measure approved by voters in 2008. It is hoped that the entire $43 billion system will be in place by 2020, with passenger trains running between San Francisco and Los Angeles through the San Joaquin Valley at up to 220 mph. Later, it will be extended to Sacramento and San Diego. Supporters of HSR in California are delighted:
"This is yet another vote of confidence that California's project is on the right track toward creating tens of thousands of jobs for our state and constructing the nation's first true high-speed rail system," said Roelof van Ark, CEO of the state rail authority.