Although I work in Chicago, I have spent the last few months laser-focused on California, communicating with dozens of assemblymembers and senators from all over the state.
Why is a national nonprofit in Chicago so focused on your state? Because what happens in California is a precursor for what changes our nation. And right now, the future of high-speed rail in the United States will be determined by what California does in the next couple of weeks.
Rick Harnish,
Special to CalMatters
Merced-Bakersfield Segment Underway
I helped found the national nonprofit High Speed Rail Alliance because of my belief in high-speed rail for all of America. California is home to the closest thing the country has to a finished segment of high-speed line. The Merced to Bakersfield segment — as bumpy and lumpy a road as it has been to build — is well underway. This 171-mile segment will be the backbone of the statewide rail network. It will support trains going 220 mph — the first true high-speed line in the United States.
It will slash travel times between Merced and Bakersfield by 90 minutes, and simultaneously cut travel times between hundreds of other pairs of cities, since riders will transfer to connecting buses and trains at each endpoint. Those services will also be expanded — making travel throughout California faster and more convenient.
Over 50 structures have been built or are being built, and environmental clearance for the connections to San Francisco and Los Angeles is almost finished.
Using Budget Surplus to Expedite Completion of High Speed Rail
Expediting the completion of the Merced-Bakersfield segment is the most prudent course to take. If legislators allocate the remaining bond funds 53% of voters mandated as a down payment for high-speed rail with Proposition 1A in 2008, California will have almost enough money to finish that first segment. This appropriation is in Gov. Govin Newsom’s 2021 proposed transportation budget. But both the…