Friday, April 6, 2007
High-speed train inches ahead
Segment of a $40 billion, 700-mile route through the county will undergo study.
By ELLYN PAK of The Orange County Register
A state rail agency this week began moving forward on an extensive study for a high-speed train route that would whisk commuters between Anaheim and Los Angeles.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority is leading the charge for the $21 million analysis to examine the Orange County-to-Los Angeles segment of a $40 billion, 700-mile system that would eventually stretch from the Bay Area to San Diego.
"It really goes into the deeper level of environmental analysis," Darrell Johnson, Orange County Transportation Authority's director of transit project delivery, said of the next round of studies that will last about three years.
In addition, the rail authority is looking to study other segments of the system, including one that could connect Los Angeles to Palmdale and another linking the central part of the state to the Bay Area.
Officials envision a system that would move commuters from Anaheim to Los Angeles in 20 minutes. Meetings are being held to gather public input.
Last September, transportation officials in Orange County agreed to contribute $7 million to the study that would include considering right-of-way requirements and noise issues. The rail authority is funding the rest.
The city of Anaheim is already preparing to be a pit stop for the high-speed train and hopes to integrate the service into a full-scale transit hub that would be built by 2010.
The transit hub would bring bus and different rail services together at one location. Anaheim's current Metrolink and Amtrak station would move from Angel Stadium's parking lot the site.
The Orange County-to-Los Angeles leg would cost $1.5 billion and go alongside the Metrolink tracks, said Dan Leavitt, deputy director of the rail authority.
Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, a rail authority board member, said Anaheim is a convenient and central point for commuters who wish to shuttle between different counties.
Officials said the high-speed train service would be financed through state funds – though a plan to place a bond measure onto the 2008 ballot was recently delayed, pushing the tentative schedule back.
"I'd really like to see if there are private-sector options," Pringle said of possible funding sources.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister...le_1643925.php