The state’s high speed rail authority is set to reconsider the option of routing California’s bullet trains over the Grapevine between Bakersfield and Los Angeles as early as Thursday. By sending trains through the sparsely-populated area surrounding Interstate 5, the authority’s operations committee thinks it can save “billions”. According to the committee’s estimates, this alternative would cut 25 miles of track and 9 minutes of travel time from the system.
The Grapevine routing could include a promising Santa Clarita station with a connection to Metrolink, but it could also trim millions of potential riders from the system compared to the currently-preferred Tehachapi alignment serving the growing Antelope Valley with a station at Palmdale. The Palmdale station would have many indirect benefits including potentially enabling Palmdale’s airport to act as relief for the more crowded coastal airports of Los Angeles County. The decision to bypass Palmdale would also effect the DesertXpress HSR system to Las Vegas, which has proposed connecting into the statewide rail system at Palmdale.
So, is going through the Grapevine a smart cost-saving move or is it cutting corners to compensate for the tough political environment surrounding infrastructure funding? We should know more after the HSR authority meets on Thursday.
