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California's Role in High-Speed Rail

California benefits from higher-speed rail service between Los Angeles and San Diego, where 90 mph service dates back to the mid-20th century. Beyond that existing service, the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) Commercial Feasibility Study found that all possible improvement options for the full (Bay Area–Los Angeles–San Diego) California North/South corridor, from Accelerail 90 to Maglev, would have partnership potential. Indeed, the study forecasts that by the year 2020, rail passenger service with 110 mph top speeds in California would generate more ridership than the entire Northeast Corridor did in 1993; and a new high-speed rail or Maglev system would triple or quadruple Amtrak's Northeast Corridor 1993 traffic benchmark, according to FRA's projections.

Recognizing both the rationale and the partnership potential for HSGT, the State of California is energetically pursuing parallel approaches toward an improved rail passenger system that will meet its present and future needs. These parallel approaches include (1) incremental upgrading of existing facilities and services and (2) new facilities and services to propel California's rail passenger system into the next millennium.

Accomplishments and Status

Since the mid-1970s, the State of California has been making significant investments, in conjunction with Amtrak, the local governments, and the railroads, in equipment and facilities for the existing California corridor—the main lines linking the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego, as well as connecting routes to Sacramento. These lines serve 90% of the State’s population and support multiple uses, including intercity and commuter trains. However, the existing passenger routes still pose substantial challenges to the achievement of high speed rail service, as exemplified by the lack of a direct rail route between Los Angeles and Bakersfield in the Central Valley, and the 600 at-grade highway crossings remaining on California’s main passenger lines. For this reason the State created the High-Speed Rail Authority to implement a new high-speed rail system.

In regard to grade crossings, the State has received a total of $6.275 million through FY 2004 under the FRA/FHWA Grade Crossing Hazard Elimination program for high-speed routes, to close redundant crossings and provide upgrades at the remaining public and private crossings in the corridor. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and FRA are cooperating in a project to apply risk management techniques to most effectively reduce grade crossing hazards by best targeting of available resources. Details on the grade crossing inventory in this corridor can be found HERE .

Historical Background

California, the Nation's most populous State, does not currently enjoy high-speed rail service on a par with that of the Northeast. This situation reflects both historical and geographic factors. Unlike the Northeast Corridor region, California reached a critical mass of population in the mid-twentieth century, the motor age, rather than in the early twentieth century when rail passenger service was at its peak. As a result, the California rail lines did not benefit from the comprehensive private railroad investment in state-of-the-art passenger infrastructure that would be necessary to overcome the State's often challenging topography. For this reason, when California's population density reached a point in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s that called for high-speed rail service, the available fixed facilities were of uneven quality and availability. In the case of the critical link between Los Angeles and Bakersfield in the Central Valley, a satisfactory direct alignment was and is completely lacking: when the railroads had considered such construction earlier in the century, they perceived passenger traffic levels as insufficient to justify the large investment.

State High-Speed Rail: Development for the New Millennium

Established in 1996, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) is governed by a board of nine members (five appointed by the Governor, two appointed by the Senate Rules Committee, and two by the Speaker of the Assembly). The Board is responsible for implementing a statewide high-speed train system for California. The Authority is charged with the responsibility for planning, designing, constructing and operating a state of the art high-speed train system for the California capable of achieving speeds of at least 200 mph, consistent with the Authority’s Final Business Plan, published in June 2000. The Business Plan recommended a statewide HSR network of 703 miles linking Sacramento and San Francisco in the north with Los Angeles and San Diego in the south.

The proposed high-speed train system would operate at speeds up to 220 mph, and the express travel time from downtown San Francisco to Los Angeles would be just under 2 ½ hours. Intercity travelers (trips between metropolitan regions) along with longer-distance commuters would enjoy the benefits of a system designed to connect with existing rail, air and highway systems. The system would be an electrified, double tracked, completely grade-separated system and cost approximately $33.0 billion. The construction of the HSR system would be a public works project on the scale of the State’s freeway system.

To comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a Program EIR/EIS is being prepared. For more information see the California high-speed train environmental review page . The Draft Program EIR/EIS document describes the system alternatives, evaluates potential environmental impacts, and discusses potential high-speed train alignment and station location options under consideration.

Maglev

The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is promoting the development of a Maglev line between Los Angeles International Airport and Union Station, with an easterly extension to Riverside County.  SCAG is seeking to implement Maglev technology for regional high-speed ground transportation service in Southern California.

Incremental Passenger Rail Improvements

California's Department of Transportation (Caltrans) works closely with Amtrak to optimize and expand the service available over existing infrastructure. Improved equipment, frequencies, safety features, and new services have resulted from State expenditures or commitments of over $1.5 billion through FY 2000 on the regional corridors linking San Francisco/Oakland with Sacramento and Los Angeles with San Diego, serving 90 percent of the State's population.

Principal services include:

San Joaquin service between Emeryville, Central Valley and Bakersfield. Bus connections to Los Angeles and San Diego.

Pacific Surfliner service between San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Capitols connecting San Jose, Oakland, and Sacramento, with extended service to Auburn.

Amtrak Thruway Bus connections linking today's rail network with many off-line cities in California.

Amtrak California Passenger Rail Studies

On May 15, 2000, Amtrak published a draft final 5-year plan (the Five-Year Rail Improvement Plan Summary Report) detailing $4 billion of investments in California’s rail corridors. On March 5, 2001, Amtrak released a $10.1 billion California Passenger Rail System 20-Year Improvement Plan for existing and emerging rail corridors. The plan calls for faster, more frequent and more convenient passenger rail service to all of the state’s major population centers. It establishes goals for the state’s existing and emerging rail corridors and proposes a vision enabling ridership to grow by 300 percent over the next 20 years. Caltrans, the freight railroads and numerous local officials participated in preparing the plans.

Los Angeles to San Diego (LOSSAN) Corridor – Surfliner Service

Since 1998, four planning and feasibility studies have been completed that are relevant to the LOSSAN corridor. The first of these was in conducted in 1998-1999 by the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority), building on previous work for 1996 done by the past California Intercity High-Speed Rail Commission. This study determined that dedicated high-speed rail service in the LOSSAN rail corridor south of central Orange County was problematic and costly to construct. The 1999 study also concluded that conventional (non-electric) rail improvements in the LOSSAN corridor should be further evaluated.

Caltrans and others prepared the second and third planning studies, addressing proposed capital improvements and service goals for the state rail system, including the LOSSAN corridor. These rail plans, Amtrak’s California Passenger Rail System 20-Year Improvement Plan (2001) and the Caltrans State Rail Plan (2002), helped form the basis for the development of alternatives to be considered in a program-level environmental review process, begun in 2002. To comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a Program EIR/EIS is being prepared for proposed LOSSAN corridor rail improvements. For more information see the LOSSAN environmental review page .

Outlook

The effort to develop a new high-speed rail system will be considered by California voters in a state bond referendum. Caltrans is continuing to plan and undertake improvements on the State’s conventional passenger railroad corridors. These important improvements will incrementally upgrade Amtrak service and would serve as vital feeder lines to the future high-speed train system.

For Further Information

The information above is a summary from FRA's perspective of current high-speed rail activity in California. For additional information, readers are referred to:

California Contacts
Organization	Personal Contact	Topics
California Dept of Transportation Division of Rail - MS 74 1120 N Street, Rm 3400 P.O. Box 942874 Sacramento, CA 94274-0001	William Bronte Chief, Division of Rail Tel: 916-654-5770 Cell: 916-653-4572 Fax. 916-843-4624 bill_bronte@dot.ca.gov	Amtrak; passenger and freight rail service; grade crossing and infrastructure improvements
California High Speed Rail Authority 925 L Street, Suite 1425 Sacramento, CA 95814 www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov	Mehdi Morshed Executive Director Tel: 916-324-1541 Fax. 916-322-0827 mmorshed@hsr.ca.gov	A new high-speed train system linking San Diego and Los Angeles in the South with Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area in the North.
Southern California Association of Governments 818 West 7th Street - 12th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90007-3435 www.calmaglev.org www.scag.ca.gov	Mark Pisano Executive Director Tel: 213-236-1800 Fax: 213-236-1825 pisano@scag.ca.gov	Maglev project between Los Angeles International Airport and Riverside, CA.

http://www.fra.dot.gov/o/hsgt/states/CA2.htm

Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) contacts for the California HSR Corridor