California High-Speed Rail Authority's partnership with local and other regional-rail bodies grow.

High-speed rail board partners with Central Valley authorities - San Francisco Business Times:

High-speed rail board partners with Central Valley authorities
San Francisco Business Times - by Melanie Turner

The California High-Speed Rail Authority board of directors on Thursday approved agreements with the city of Sacramento and the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission pledging to work cooperatively with each of the agencies to plan and implement high-speed rail services.

The agreements aim to ensure that each of the parties will have a role in the planning of high-speed train service in their areas.

The San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission owns, operates and is the policy-making body for the Altamont Commuter Express, a commuter train that runs between Stockton and San Jose.

In Sacramento, Mayor Kevin Johnson has urged the nine-member board to speed up its look at extending the bullet train to Sacramento.

“We want to work cooperatively with both Sacramento and the San Joaquin Rail Commission to ensure that we achieve the best, most efficient and most cost effective results as the high-speed train system is developed in the future,” Board Chairman Quentin Kopp said. “By working with these agencies we can begin to make that happen in a way that works for everyone involved.”

The board also approved a list of shovel-ready high-speed and intercity rail construction projects that will be among those the state makes an official request for funding for under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by the anticipated Aug. 1 deadline.

Projects selected by the board on Thursday are spread throughout the planned 800-mile system, including the entire Los Angeles-to-Anaheim and San Francisco-to-San Jose corridors. Also included was the identification, selection and negotiation of right-of-way acquisition in the Merced-to-Bakersfield section.

Sacramento Business Journal

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