Link: Stimulus funding puts California on track for high-speed rail.
Stimulus funding puts California on track for high-speed rail.
By Mike De Souza, Canwest News ServiceAugust 7, 2009
In one of the most gridlocked jurisdictions in North America, the prospect of a high-speed train zipping up and down the California coast at speeds of up to 350 km/h has long been ridiculed as a science-fiction fantasy.
It has been 13 years since Curt Pringle was the Speaker of California's legislature when it authorized the creation of a new agency - the California High Speed Rail Authority - that had the mandate to plan, build and manage a proposed system to link the state's biggest cities.
But while other North American jurisdictions are still mired in studies about the merits of high-speed rail, California suddenly finds itself today in the driver's seat, heading toward a system that will be able to offer trips between San Francisco and Los Angeles in two hours and 40 minutes on a dedicated track.
``I think people will not have as many fast-food sandwiches behind the wheel of their car and, in fact, will be able to sit back and enjoy the travel from one end of the state to the other,'' said Pringle, now the mayor of Anaheim, in an interview.
The California project is among 272 different proposals that have submitted funding requests worth more than $100 billion US to the U.S. administration for the introduction of high-speed trains. All of projects are vying for a piece of President Barack Obama's five-year, $13-billion US plan for high-speed rail that was announced in April as a part of economic stimulus measures.
Despite some opposition and the effects of the economic downturn, California's bid received the backing of its population, which voted in a referendum last fall to free up almost $10 billion in public funding for the project through the sale of bonds. The state's rail agency also warned, through peer-reviewed government studies and estimates, that the cost of not building the system would be much higher, at more than $82 billion, to expand highways and airports to meet future travel demands.
``I think we are in a very strong place to be the first or be right up there in terms of advancing high-speed rail in North America,'' said Pringle, who is also chairman of the agency's board of directors.
Pringle believes that the referendum results, combined with new federal funding available under Obama's plan, have scored a victory against critics who balked at the estimated $45-billion cost of the entire 1,288-kilometre route - from Sacramento and San Francisco in the north, all the way down to San Diego in the south.
The Federal Railroad Administration, which is in charge awarding the federal stimulus money for high-speed rail, said it will now work with states to review the 272 preliminary applications and determine which of the projects can qualify for the limited funding available.
Obama designated nearly a dozen regional corridors for high-speed rail when he announced his passenger-train plan in April. The corridors include routes that link directly or indirectly to Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Windsor, Ont., Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal. Six New England governors have also submitted a preliminary proposal seeking federal funding on a route that would link Boston and Montreal.
But FRA spokesman Warren Flatau said that building the links into Canadian cities would depend on the priorities of the Harper government and its provincial counterparts.
``This is a national policy issue,'' Flatau told Canwest News Service. ``Among the factors that would be taken into consideration is formal backing of the provincial and/or federal governments.''
Meantime, stakeholders say that most of the projects that get funding under Obama's high-speed plan, will not actually be high-speed routes with trains travelling above 250 km/h. Instead, they predict incremental improvements on infrastructure and equipment that would allow trains which now travel at average speeds of 130 km/h to improve to about 200 km/h.
``We're very pleased at the fact that the (Obama) administration has provided an unprecedented amount of money for intercity passenger rail,'' said Ross Capon, president and CEO of the U.S. National Association of Railway Passengers. ``That said, (it) has to be seen as being a relative drop in the bucket compared to what other modes (of transportation) get, and compared to what you would need to get a bullet-train type of service.''
The fastest passenger train in North America, Amtrak's Acela Express, now runs between Boston, New York and Washington, and is capable of reaching a top speed of about 240 km/h. But it often averages speeds of less than 140 km/h because of track conditions, conflicts with freight trains and other safety restrictions.
The electrified train, powered by an overhead wire, was a joint project by Alstom and Canadian-based Bombardier. It was brought into service in 2001 and soon became a money-making route for the government-owned, passenger-rail service.
``Amtrak as a whole is not profitable, but the Acela Express is and has been (profitable),'' company spokesman Clifford Cole said.
The government spent nearly $2.6 billion US to acquire equipment and build new infrastructure for the line, according to figures from a 2004 federal audit, but Amtrak officials estimate they would need billions of dollars in additional investments and agreements with track owners for the train to run at its maximum speeds.
Nevertheless, the improved speed and frequency of the new train allowed ridership on the route to go from 2.4 million passengers in 2000 (before the Acela train went into service), up to 3.4 million passengers in 2008.
Roelof Van Ark, a senior vice-president of Alstom Transport in North America, said that he is optimistic suppliers will soon see an increase in demand for other fast trains on the continent, partially as a result of the Obama administration's plan.
``Today, everyone knows that the European systems are very successful and we are very happy to share our knowledge of why those business cases worked with the future North American users of such systems,'' said Van Ark, who has worked in the transportation industry for more than 25 years.
The France-based Alstom is also promoting a new very high-speed train called the Automotrice a Grande Vitesse (AGV) that recently reached a speed of 574.8 km/h in a test run.
Back in California, Pringle said the pace of progression for its high-speed system will now depend on environmental assessments on the proposed routes. Some of the construction is expected to get underway in segments within three years, he said.
The agency is hoping that the committed funding from state and federal governments will help it attract private investors as part of a public-private partnership. It estimates the route could generate $1 billion US in annual surpluses, eventually serving 88 million to 117 million passengers per year by 2030 and creating up to 450,000 permanent jobs in the state over the next 25 years.
``I think there's a lot more momentum behind it and it will be built,'' said Pringle.
It will also prove a point to anyone who was skeptical about whether the plan was realistic, he said.
``I think they're going to see that the reality is around the corner.''
mdesouza@canwest.com
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
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