Piggybacking on President Obama's stimulus package, a high-speed rail system, similar to those in Europe and Japan, is being proposed in California to alleviate the load that existing transit lines such as highways and airports are under.

In San Diego County, organizations like the San Diego Association of Governments and California Department of Transportation are working in conjunction with the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the agency directly overseeing the project, to get the region ready for construction.

However, the program's first hurdle, financing, is still being settled.


"The California bond is a fortuitous down payment with Obama making it very clear that he wants highspeed rail to be part of his move transportation legacy," said Lynn Schenk, a former Congresswoman and one of the original proponents of a high-speed rail system. "He's put together $8 billion for the high-speed rail project with yearly increments built into the federal budget for the next five years."

The high-speed rail, or HSR, project's financing is coming from five different sources. About $8 billion in federal funds for transportation projects are coming in from the stimulus package but rail planners won't know until October how much will come to California from the initial cut. Additionally, Obama is earmarking $1 billion a year in the federal budget for HSR projects.

On a state level Proposition 1A, a $9.95 billion bond measure that voters passed in November 2008, is providing financing for the project. The proposition is putting 90 percent of the funds towards specific projects, with federal and private matching monies required.

"Private sector investments, known as PPPs, or public-private partnerships, have been part of the HSR's financing options," said Schenk. "The request for an expression of interest was sent out last year to a variety of sources and the response has been very positive."

Desire To Expedite Project

Local funding is the project's final financing stream. Organizations and communities have put good-faith money towards the project to expedite progress; however, the HSR's construction in San Diego will be deferred until later in the project timeline.

"The HSR project as it stands right now is a little ways off in San Diego County," says Bill Figge, deputy District 11 director of planning for Caltrans. "The first segment to be constructed is the Bay Area to Central Valley section so the San Diego line will probably be one of the last to be finished."

Despite the lack of immediacy to the region, Caltrans is busy preparing for the HSR project. The proposed area that the HSR rail would take locally is through the Interstate 15 corridor, so Caltrans and Sandag authorities are working with the High-Speed Rail Authority to lay out the line's path through San Diego County.

Once completed, the line will move transport passengers from San Diego to Sacramento in 3 hours and 38 minutes, covering 588 miles for an estimated cost of $68.

The train's efficiency will reduce the number of inter-city automobile passengers on freeways by millions of people, claims the HSR.

The $45 billion project is estimated to cost less than half the expense of expanding freeways and airports to meet future travel demands. It would eliminate the need to construct 3,000 lane miles of highways, 91 airport gates and five additional airport runways by 2030.

"We're always looking for transit options that are cost-effective and environmentally conscious. This project is able to hand us an option that embodies both," said Figge. "So while construction will start up north first, we're just as eager as anyone to get our end started."

Construction Jobs

Nearly 160,000 construction-related jobs are required to plan, design and build the transit system with an additional 450,000 permanent jobs expected to be created by 2035 as a result of the economic growth the train system will bring to the state.

Due to the early stages of the project the HSR project's local impact has yet to be calculated, but according to Caltrans, the general rule of thumb is 18,000 jobs created for each $1 billion of construction work.

"The goal is once it's operational ticket sales, which are hopefully half the cost of what it would be to fly, concessions and what have you will allow for people to travel at an affordable price much faster than they have all while reducing the strain on the environment," .