What Obama's high speed rail plan means for California

If you’ve been hoping to avoid traffic and airport hassles by riding a bullet train for your next trip San Francisco, your green transportation dreams got a boost from the Obama administration yesterday. Vice President Joe Biden announced in Philadelphia that President Barack Obama’s budget proposal will include $8 billion to expand high-speed rail service — the first installment of a six-year, $53 billion investment in high-speed rail.

The hope for many Californians is that the Golden State will get a big chunk of that money. Last year, California got $2.3 billion of the $10 billion in federal grands for high speed rail projects from the Obama administration, according to the AP — which, along with state funds, brought the pot for the first leg of the project to $5.5 billion.

How much of next year’s $8 billion — or the next 6 years’ $53 billion — will come to California? San Jose Mercury News did some creative extrapolation based on the fact that California received about 30 percent of federal bullet train grants the last few years:

If that formula holds, the state would get about $16 billion from the U.S. government over the next six years under Obama’s pledge…. Already armed with $9 billion in state bonds and about $3.6 billion from the federal government, the influx of the new federal grants could put California about two-thirds of the way toward funding the entire project.

That scenario’s far from a certain one, however. For one, California may not get such a generous chunk of the funds. For another, it’s unclear where the $53 billion will come from — especially since Republican lawmakers are already voicing their disapproval of Obama’s budget and plan, according to the Miami Herald. As DC Streetsblog puts it, “Don’t expect this plan to sail through Congress.”

Plus, there’s some disagreement as to how much this high-speed rail line will cost. San Jose Mercury News points out that some reports estimate the final price tag could be as much as $63 or $73 billion.

In addition, California’s high speed rail project still has many other battles to fight. Some Valley cities, for example, are opposed to the current high-speed rail route. Pasadena Star-News reports “officials in Alhambra and Rosemead oppose placing high-speed trains anywhere near homes and businesses.”

Still, many rail advocates see Obama’s plan as good news for high-speed rail in California. After Biden’s announcement, the California High-Speed Rail Authority quickly sent out a press release, with a quote from Roelof van Ark, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, saying “This is the kind of bold investment in the future of our nation’s infrastructure that will get the attention of the private sector and make high-speed travel a reality in the United States.”

Somewhat less exuberantly, Steve Hymon at Metro’s The Source notes that “on balance this seems to be good news for California, as some of the money seems likely to continue flowing here and the Obama Administration has thrown their support behind getting construction started between Bakersfield and Madera in the San Joaquin Valley.”

Image: Computer-generated image of a potential California high-speed train (California High-Speed Rail Authority)