California bullet train gets $29M loan - San Francisco Business Times:
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | Modified: Wednesday, April 8, 2009
California bullet train gets $29M loan
San Francisco Business Times - by Eric Young
State authorities approved California bullet train’s request for a $29.1 million loan, allowing the project to pay contractors (whom have done what??) and continue its planning.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority had been running perilously low on money for several months.
The authority’s cash crunch stemmed from California’s inability to sell almost $10 billion in bonds approved by voters last year for the 800-mile rail line expected to link San Francisco to San Diego and Sacramento.
The loan, approved by the state Treasurer’s Office, is “an enormous relief to the dedicated and talented staff and the engineers and planners that continued to work on the project over the past three months without a commitment that they would be paid,” said Mehdi Morshed, executive director of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.
As the authority collects its loan money, it is seeking money from other sources as well.
High-speed rail leaders are ramping up lobbying for a share of the $8 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act intended for high speed rail and other rail passenger service. Authority board members like David Crane, a top economic adviser to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and transportation veteran Rod Diridon Sr. will urge Congress to direct millions of dollars to California’s high speed rail project.
Meanwhile, there continues to be interest from private investors in the bullet train. The project’s financial team said earlier this year that it talked with 12 firms specializing in finance, operations, equipment or rail construction. While about one third of the project’s costs will be covered by voter-approved bonds, the train will need significant private investor and federal money.
eyoung@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4969
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