FRESNO HIGH SPEED RAIL ROUTE GENERATOR

“The scale of this thing is massive… but the benefits are also massive.”Ĭontact Lorraine Gabbert at “Turning that into reality is a huge undertaking,” he said. Lipkin said in the era of climate change, it’s essential to have people use trains powered by renewable energy rather than cars and planes. But getting the funding is the challenge. Overhead wiring is already in place at Diridon Station, with $800 million of its funding paid through the high-speed rail budget, Diridon said.īoris Lipkin, California High-Speed Rail Authority Northern California regional director, said if federal, state and regional funding was in place, high-speed rail could be completed between San Francisco and Los Angeles in just over 10 years. With an eye to the environment, high-speed rail will share electrified Caltrain tracks. “Coyote Valley is one of two corridors connecting the relatively isolated Santa Cruz Mountain Range to the rest of the natural habitats in the state.” “Both of those areas are very important migration corridors,” he said. Green Foothills wants to see this mitigated with wildlife-friendly crossings. “I look forward to San Jose’s Diridon Station being a huge, essential point for high-speed rail to connect with transit throughout the Bay Area, and ultimately to connect us to the rest of the state,” he told San José Spotlight.īrian Schmidt, policy and advocacy director for Green Foothills, said it’s concerning how high-speed rail will impact the migration of bobcats, mountain lions and elk in Coyote Valley and Pacheco Pass.

FRESNO HIGH SPEED RAIL ROUTE GENERATOR

The project will be also a job generator and will provide environmental benefits with less cars on the road, he said. State Assemblymember Ash Kalra said high-speed rail will be a critical connection from the Central Valley both to the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Completing the route from Los Angeles to San Francisco could cost $105 billion, according to a state estimate. In 2015 the project broke ground in the Central Valley.Īs cost overruns and delays extended the timeline, a rail line is anticipated to link Bakersfield to Merced by 2030, and the Bay Area by 2033.

In November 2008, voters approved a $9.95 billion bond measure toward the construction of a high-speed train, with Phase 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim. The rail authority was created by the state Legislature and Gov. High-speed rail trains will share Caltrain lines in the future. To connect the Central Valley to Gilroy, and then San Jose, the project will require tunneling through Pacheco Pass. The high-speed rail line will feed into San Jose through Diridon Station, which is set to become a major transit hub with BART’s expansion from the north. “It will give Silicon Valley a new lease on life because we gain access to the affordable homes in the Central Valley.” “The most serious impediment for high tech and employment in our area is a lack of housing,” Diridon said. Trains traveling at 200 miles per hour will significantly shorten travel times for commuters from the Central Valley. Once complete, high-speed rail will connect San Jose with Fresno in one hour, a huge time saver for people who chose to move out of the area in search of affordable housing, Diridon said. “When you get home, it’s after the kid’s little league game and maybe you get there in time to tuck them in. You had to leave before the kids got up,” he told San José Spotlight. Rod Diridon, chair emeritus of the California High-Speed Rail Authority board, said prior to the pandemic, almost 200,000 people commuted each day from the Central Valley to the Bay Area, driving two- to three-and-a-half hours each way. Leaders to weigh pros, cons of future train alignments at Diridon Station

Fresno high speed rail route