SACRAMENTO-In a nod to the commitment and progress of California’s high-speed rail system, the US Department of Transportation today redirected $624 million in funding for the project from other states to California. Or perhaps it is a nod to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent letter to US Secretary of Transportation Raymond LaHood requesting that other states’ unwanted federal contributions to high-speed rail systems be redirected to California.

Either way, according to Roelof van Ark, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, “This is yet another vote of confidence that California’s project is on the right track toward creating tens of thousands of jobs for our state and constructing the nation’s first true high-speed rail system.”

In Gov. Schwarzenegger’s recent letter, he pointed out that he was somewhat astonished when he heard of recent announcements from “some of our gubernatorial colleagues that they are uninterested in federal contributions to their high-speed rail systems.” In response to those colleagues, he said, “You are more than welcome to redirect that money to California—where we know how to use it to generate hundreds of thousands of jobs and provide a clean, fast and low-cost way to travel.”

The funding is anticipated to further construction in the Central Valley toward another urban center. Initial construction is slated to begin in 2012. The California High-Speed Rail Authority Board this month selected the starting point for the project’s Southern California-to-Bay Area construction, as GlobeSt.com previously reported.

The additional Recovery Act funding was redistributed after nearly $1.2 billion was returned from other states. California’s project has received the most federal funding of any state in the nation, totaling more than $3.1 billion in 2010.

As GlobeSt.com also previously reported, California has secured a total of $4.3 billion to begin construction on the core of the system. That includes a recent $715 million in federal funding, on top of previous economic stimulus funds and state and local matches.

Instant Insights /

CA High-Speed Rail Gets Additional Funds

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