From KCBS San Jose: Still No Regional Consensus on High Speed Rail

KCBS - Still No Regional Consensus on High Speed Rail

Still No Regional Consensus on High Speed Rail



SAN JOSE (KCBS) -- Although the mayors of the Bay Area’s two largest cities agree on the priorities for high speed rail, some cities between San Francisco and San Jose harbor reservations about the project.

Leaders in several peninsula cities are concerned about the impact trains running 120 mph will have on the quality of life in communities adjacent to the existing Caltrain right of way.

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“The track design, for example in Palo Alto, would run right up to or in some cases potentially need to take some of people’s back yards,” said Palo Alto City Councilman Pat Burt.

Burt said communities up and down the peninsula could find themselves divided by large, physical barriers to mitigate noise and danger from the engines.

Such discord could jeopardize federal funding for the rail line that would eventually connect Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento with the Central Valley.

A unified plan will ease the competition for stimulus dollars in particular, said San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed.

“It’s really important for us all to work together because we want to make sure that high speed rail, the California part of high speed rail, has the best chance possible,” Reed said.