Why it’s time to get on board with high-speed rail project
Last week, the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s board met in San Jose and adopted its long-anticipated, comprehensive 2018 Business Plan. That culminating action is the result of an extended, transparent and comprehensive evaluation of challenges the authority faces in building the nation’s first high-speed rail system. The plan addresses and remediates each of those challenges, creating a program worthy of public trust as construction progresses from the Central Valley toward Silicon Valley.
The authority is determined to construct a high-speed rail system that will reconnect the state, link economies and fundamentally modernize and improve travel in California. Like many transformative projects, this epic effort has faced cost, scheduling and scoping challenges. The new business plan maps a viable path to deliver the initial segment, operable without government subsidy, between Silicon Valley and the Central Valley in the coming decade.
Over the years, the project has attracted some detractors. Naysayers are not unusual for iconic, transformative infrastructure projects, but are shortsighted. Last week’s discussion was no exception. The same small group as in prior years testified to their opposition to having the train run through their neighborhoods. Currently only two of the more than 30 towns and cities between Gilroy and San Francisco oppose the project. The authority continues to attempt to meet their concerns but must move ahead. This project must not be sidetracked any longer.
Indeed, the Golden Gate Bridge was viewed as an “upside-down rat trap” that would mar the beauty of the San Francisco Bay and was opposed by over 2,300 lawsuits. Today, the Golden Gate Bridge is not only considered one the world’s most iconic landmarks, it is also a symbol of engineering ingenuity.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit system was at first widely considered a train to nowhere. Today, BART is the single most important rail transportation system in the Bay Area, with rail service now expanding throughout the region.
Large infrastructure projects are not easy. They require determination and vision by the designers and builders as well as the public. And, according to the latest Public Policy Institute of California survey, our state’s visionary public’s support for the project has risen to over 60 percent in the Bay Area and more than 50 percent statewide.
As the authority lays the foundation for high-speed rail service, it continues to fulfill its commitment to support the following rail modernization bookend projects in the south and north state. Earlier this month, the high-speed rail authority and the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority entered into an agreement that allocates $76.1 million in Proposition 1A bonds to fund a vital grade separation project in the city of Santa Fe Springs. Other upgrades of the Burbank to Anaheim Metrolink system are in planning, preparing for joint high-speed rail usage.
Similarly, the high-speed rail authority has allocated $713 million from Prop 1A to support the Caltrain Electrification Project now in process. That project allows for the future integration of the high-speed rail system on the 51-mile Caltrain Corridor from San Francisco to Tamian Station in south central San Jose.
The 2018 business plan, approved unanimously by the authority’s board last week, is straight talk. This megaproject has challenges that the authority has realistic plans to overcome. Our state is now the world’s fifth largest economy. We can afford, and indeed, can’t survive without this world-class high-speed rail system so badly needed by Silicon Valley. The project is under construction. So, to avoid more delays and added costs, it’s time for us all to either get on board or get out of the way. All aboard.
We can afford, and indeed, can’t survive without this world-class high-speed rail system so badly needed by Silicon Valley.