SACRAMENTO-The California High-Speed Rail Authority was awarded $715 million from the federal government, bringing to $4.3 billion the funding secured to begin construction on the core of the system in 2012. The project is expected to put thousands of Californians to work.  

According to California High-Speed Rail Authority chairman, Curt Pringle, “Federal funding has once again invigorated the project and will be a huge boost to the state’s economy. He adds that “The key to developing this system is to create a core—a backbone for the system that will connect our major metropolitan cities. This funding helps us do that and lets us begin to capitalize on what high-speed rail means for California in jobs and development opportunity and in a more mobile and efficient state.”

The first phase of the 800-mile high-speed rail system will span the San Francisco Bay Area to the Los Angeles metropolitan area and will be built in several sections to manage the construction process and gets trains on the tracks as soon as possible. The federal funding received includes a designation that $715 million of the funding be used on an eligible section in the Central Valley, earmarking the money for either the Merced-to-Fresno or Fresno-to-Bakersfield sections.

The four sections being considered as the potential launch point for high-speed rail construction are San Francisco to San Jose, Merced to Fresno, Fresno to Bakersfield and Los Angeles to Anaheim. The Authority is currently in the environmental analysis phase for all sections in the system.

“While we recognize that the federal government has indicated a preference by specifying the Central Valley for the bulk of the award, the Authority is committed to using formal criteria in making the selection to decide where to begin building high-speed rail,” explains California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Roelof van Ark.

The formal criteria the Authority will consider at its next meeting—set for November 4 in Sacramento—reflect both the legal requirements in Proposition 1A and federal law, as well as steps to maximize the benefits to the public while minimizing risks, according to a prepared statement. Once finalized, the criteria will be applied to each of the four sections to determine which will launch the project in a way that makes possible the core of a statewide system—the top priority for the initial funding. A selection is expected before the end of the year.

Also included in the award was $16 million designated to improvements to the 4th and King Street Station in San Francisco, a station in the San Francisco to San Jose segment proposed to serve the existing commuter rail service and high-speed rail. The $4.3 billion in available funding incorporates the Authority’s January 2010 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act federal funding award matched dollar for dollar with state funds and today’s award of $715 million matched 30% in state funding, according to the release.

Construction is slated to begin late 2012 with the state’s high-speed rail network providing passenger service from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Los Angeles metropolitan area by 2020.

As GlobeSt.com previously reported, panelists at California High-Speed Rail TOD Marketplace, a seminar—presented from the Anaheim Convention Center by the California chapters of the Urban Land Institute—pointed out that “If high-speed rail is going to happen in the US, it’s going to start here in California,” According to Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, who chairs the California High Speed Rail Authority, “It is our responsibility to not be bogged down by lawsuits or other roadblocks, but to focus on the positive implications and possibilities of high-speed rail.”

And according to Jeff Heller of international architect Heller Manus, who also served as a panelist at the recent event, “The implications of high-speed rail are transformative.” Heller adds that, “The change in flow of people will cause an immediate shift in land use.”