Grapevine rail route gets second look
| Thursday, May 05 2011 01:47 PM
Last Updated Thursday, May 05 2011 08:27 PM
The possibility of bullet trains shooting up and down the Grapevine is about to get another look, six years after the idea was ruled out because of high costs and environmental hurdles.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority board's decision Thursday to revisit the route as an alternative to laying tracks through the Tehachapis and the Antelope Valley was immediately condemned by Tejon Ranch Co., which worries for its proposed mountain village development in Lebec should the Grapevine option come to pass.
Tejon Ranch reiterated its position that the Lancaster-Palmdale route is superior, and that going back to square one would only invite protests from other communities that dislike the rail authority's proposed alignment.
If the high-speed rail board eventually moves forward with the Grapevine route, "then we will explore all of our options," possibly including litigation, said Barry Zoeller, Tejon's vice president of corporate communications and marketing.
Without halting engineering and environmental review work on a route through the Tehachapis, the authority decided to spend $750,000 reconsidering the Grapevine option because it appears to hold the potential to save 25 miles, 9 minutes of travel time and billions of taxpayer dollars.
"We're looking at as many alternatives as possible to make sure we construct the best system we can," rail authority CEO Roelof van Ark said in a news release.
Also Thursday, authority board members voted to keep portions of the proposed route in Bakersfield, Fresno and Merced at grade rather than raise it on viaducts, which the agency said would be safer and reduce environmental, sound and visual impacts.
In Bakersfield specifically, it said, the proposed alignment from Hageman Road to Palm Avenue will be considered at-grade rather than aerial for purposes of study.
That decision was in line with city leader's recent communication with rail authority staff, said Rhonda Smiley, assistant to Bakersfield City Manager Alan Tandy.
"While it is not our preference, we were aware of it," she wrote in an email.
With an estimated price tag of $43 billion, the high-speed rail project proposes to link Anaheim with San Francisco in 2020. It is expected to begin construction in the second half of next year.
