CORRECTING and REPLACING High-Speed Train Board Approves Federal Stimulus Proposal

Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.

The corrected release reads:

HIGH-SPEED TRAIN BOARD APPROVES FEDERAL STIMULUS PROPOSAL

Shovel-Ready Projects Likely Qualify for $8 Billion in Federal Funding

California high-speed train officials Thursday approved a list of shovel-ready construction projects likely to qualify for $8 billion in federal stimulus funding for high-speed trains.

The nine-member California High-Speed Rail Authority Board gave the go-ahead to add the projects to the state's official request for a portion of the high-speed and intercity rail funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) by the expected August 1, 2009 submittal deadline.

Federal rail officials have established initial criteria for ARRA grants to complete individual projects that are “ready to go” with preliminary engineering and environmental work completed and that demonstrate “independent utility.”

"We are confident that California's system is well ahead of every other high-speed train project in the country and should be a leading candidate to receive stimulus funding," said Board Chairman Quentin Kopp. "Ours is the only one with billions of dollars in voter-approved state funding committed to the project, with environmental clearances already in place and with construction elements already identified and ready to go."

The project elements selected by the Board on Thursday are spread throughout California's planned 800-mile system. They include:

1. The entire Los Angeles-to-Anaheim and San Francisco-to-San Jose corridors, where the Authority is expected to have completed the project level environmental document, and qualified and selected design build teams to begin construction of the sections by the 2012 deadline.

2. Identification, selection and negotiation of right-of-way acquisition in the Merced-to-Bakersfield section, including the system’s planned maintenance facility.

Authority staff also will work before the deadline to identify other “shovel ready” projects outside the three corridors identified above that advance the Authority’s high-speed rail plan and that meet the federal criteria, according to CHSRA Executive Director Mehdi Morshed.

States across the country are vying for a share of the bullet train money added by President Obama just before Congress approved the massive plan to invigorate the economy. Kopp led an Authority Board team to Washington earlier this year to meet with Obama Administration officials and Congressional leaders as the details of the high-speed train funding were being worked out.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority is responsible for building high-speed train service covering 800 miles at speeds over 220 MPH. Voters approved Proposition 1A on the November 2008 ballot putting a down payment on what will be America’s first high-speed train system.

By linking all major cities in California with a state of the art new transportation option, California's high-speed train system will increase mobility while cutting air pollution and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Building the high-speed train system will cost less than half the cost of freeway and aviation alternatives. Operating the system will create an annual surplus of more than $1 billion.

For route information, visual simulations and more, please visit www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov.