High Noon for Crucial High-Speed Rail Vote in State Legislature

Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to start building a high-speed rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles is facing a crucial vote by the California State Legislature this week, with the Huffington Post reporting that some state lawmakers are skeptical about spending billions in the Central Valley, which is where the first 130-mile stretch is scheduled to be constructed.

Brown is pushing lawmakers to authorize $2.7 billion in voter-approved state bonds and said the state has to act fast in order to capitalize on billions of dollars in additional federal support. CNN reported last month that the project, currently estimated by the California High-Speed Rail Authority to cost $68 billion, is in serious jeopardy as many state lawmakers are going sour on the project. California voters approved the initial funding of the rail in 2008, but original cost estimates were around $35 million.

Initially running from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim via the Central Valley, and later to Sacramento and San Diego, the California High-Speed Rail Authority says the trains will travel between LA and San Francisco in under 2 hours and 40 minutes. The line would include a Burbank stop and would pass just outside North Hollywood's borders on its way to a Sylmar stop before the line would continue into the Antelope Valley and the Central Valley.

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