California High-Speed Rail Authority Releases Recommendations for Preferred Alternatives in Northern California

The California High Speed Rail Authority today released its preferred alternatives for routes in Northern California, detailing how the system would connect the Central Valley to the Bay Area.

In the San Jose to Merced project section, Authority staff recommends Alternative 4, which uses a blended configuration between San Jose and Gilroy in the existing Union Pacific Railroad corridor before continuing to a dedicated high-speed rail alignment through Pacheco Pass.

In the San Francisco to San Jose project section, Authority staff recommends Alternative A, which includes a light maintenance facility on the east side of the tracks in Brisbane and does not include additional passing tracks in the middle of the corridor.

The announcement of the alternatives marks the start of an outreach campaign through the summer to gather feedback from the public on the staff recommendations. The Authority's Board of Directors will take the input into account when they make decisions in September. There will be several outreach events in the region in August (see below.)

After the Board of Directors makes a decision, draft environmental documents are due out in December 2019 for the San Jose to Merced project section and in March 2020 for the San Francisco to San Jose line. While all alternatives will be evaluated equally in the draft environmental documents, identifying the preferred alternatives will guide the public to what is most likely to become the project. Final route decisions will be made at the conclusion of the environmental review process.

“The identification of the preferred alternatives is an important step in defining the program and advancing the implementation of the Authority’s Silicon Valley to Central Valley Line that will ultimately bring high-speed rail to Northern California,” said Northern California Regional Director Boris Lipkin. “In recommending preferred alternatives, we aim to find the right balance between system performance characteristics, environmental factors and community factors.”

All Meetings will run from 5 to 8 p.m. with the presentation beginning at 6 p.m..