Lawmakers of California gave the green light on 6 July to allocate the funding needed to start building the first dedicated high speed rail line in the United States of America linking Los Angeles to San Francisco, which is currently estimated to cost 68 billion USD.
The decision taken last Friday by the California’s state legislature concerns firstly the construction of the 210 km pilot section between Madera and Bakersfield in the Central Valley. This decision, which puts an end to a long process that has spent years in the planning stages, marks a major political step forward in the implementation of the Government’s plans to develop a number of high speed corridors as job generators and clean transportation alternatives.
“No economy can grow faster than its transportation network allows”, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “With highways between California cities congested and airspace at a premium, Californians desperately need an alternative.”
Dan Richard, Chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) which is managing the project, said on Friday that “not only will California be the first state in the nation to build a high speed rail system to connect our urban centres, we will also modernise and improve rail systems at local and regional level.”
UIC welcomes this decision. Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director-General, said: “the world’s railway community welcomes this decision to start the implementation of high speed rail in the US. As it is continuously demonstrated, day after day, in countries which introduced high speed train operations, this type of transport will definitively contribute to the development of a safe, efficient, customer-friendly, sustainable mobility system serving customers as well as society as a whole.”
At the same time, the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has just become a UIC member following approval during the 80th UIC General Assembly held in Philadelphia on 9 July. “It’s a very timely coincidence” said Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, welcoming the arrival of this new member and the positive direction taken by high speed rail in the USA following the California’s vote last Friday.
Among the points discussed during the UIC General Assembly, updates on partnerships with professional rail organisations were made by Jean-Pierre Loubinoux who underlined the real opportunity for UIC to be part of the creation of the American high speed network by peer-reviewing the programme in California. Recently, a close partnership has been formed between UIC and CHSRA to define the fields of cooperation and UIC’s support methods.
