City officials renew bullet train support

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press March 2, 2001.

By DON JERGLER
Valley Press Aerospace Writer

PALMDALE - California High-Speed Rail Authority staff members made a stop in Palmdale on Wednesday night to discuss a planned bullet-train system with members of the community at the Palmdale Performing Arts Center.

About two dozen people attended the two-hour meeting, including Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford and the Rev. Henry Hearns, vice mayor of Lancaster.

Both men pledged their support for a bullet train as long as an Antelope Valley stop is on the planned 700-mile statewide system.

"We really don't mind where it is, as long as it comes through the Antelope Valley," Hearns said.

Both officials have traveled to many of the authority meetings during the past two years to lobby for a bullet-train stop in the high desert.

"I hope you walk away knowing that we are united behind high-speed rail in California," Ledford told authority staff members. "The Antelope Valley is certainly behind you."

While their lobbying has met with some degree of success, it's uncertain whether high desert residents will have convenient access to a high-speed train system, if one is ever built.

The authority has voted to make Palmdale an alternate stop on the system, while an alignment along Interstate 5 and up the Grapevine continues to receive preference.

Both alignments, however, are drawn on the high-speed rail map. Pending the completion of an environmental impact report, one could be chosen over the other.

During the meeting, residents expressed concerns over pollution, noise and dangers posed to train riders by earthquakes that could be generated from nearby faults - faults pose a threat along a majority of the planned train system.

Charles Brailer of Lancaster is a frequent train traveler and was on hand to support a bullet-train stop in the Valley.

"I think it's the only sensible answer to intercity transportation in the long run," he said. "I think it's an incredibly good alignment."

It makes sense to place a stop in the Valley since the majority of the population growth in Southern California is expected to occur in the high desert, said Brailer, who retired from a radio broadcast career with KFWB.

This was the eighth of 16 planned town meetings for staff members.

Public comments from the meetings are expected to be used to help the authority prepare its final report, which is set to be completed by June 2003.

The estimated $24 billion- to $35 billion-system would require public as well as private funding.

The train would run from San Francisco to Los Angeles, a trip estimated to take 2 1/2 hours on a bullet train. A trip to Los Angeles from Palmdale would take roughly 30 minutes, according to authority staff.

The cost of a one-way ticket between San Francisco and Los Angeles would cost from $24 to $42, staff members said.

A bullet-train system is planned for operation by 2020. The train would alleviate air traffic between San Francisco and Los Angeles - reportedly the heaviest-traveled air corridor in the country - and reduce the number of intercity trips.