PUBLISHED 8-31-07

Gov. Schwarzenegger had to make some difficult cuts last week in order to square the state budget. Some of them were painful.

Funding for high-speed rail survived, however, and Californians — especially Central Valley residents — can be glad it did.

Development of high-speed rail, the proposed, 220-mph bullet train that will allow riders to travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two-and-a-half hours, has moved at glacial speed.  Completely cutting high-speed rail from the budget might have put it on ice for good.

High-speed rail has both long-term and near-term benefits for the valley. In the near term, the Central Valley will see a substantial share of the engineering design work, engineering collaboration and environmental planning that funds from the current budget allocation will help preserve. 

In the long-term, high-speed rail will provide an economic link between major valley cities, like Bakersfield, and major urban centers to the north and south; reduce gridlock; and save some wear-and-tear on valley freeways.

As the High Speed Rail Authority holds public events in the near future to build interest for the November 2008 ballot measure, the $20.7 million allotted to high-speed rail in the new state budget — a fifth of the $103 million requested — will allow the agency to at least keep its base of contractors in place so they are not lost.

The key focus and challenge is to keep the engineering and environmental work going so that when the $9.95 billion bond measure goes before the voters — and hopefully passes — the process of filling in the Central Valley network can move forward with fewer snags.

The High Speed Rail Authority will probably use the full $20.7 million to begin developing the Orange County-to-Los Angeles and Bay Area high-speed rail sites to generate interest in the urban hubs in advance of the November 2008 ballot initiative. 
But the Central Valley remains the backbone of the project, meaning taxpayers here should applaud that it survives — for another year, anyway.