The San Jose Spotlight reports that last week, the California High-Speed Rail Authority board voted unanimously to approve the environmental impact report along the 49-mile section from San Francisco to San Jose.
This section of the project is estimated to cost more than five billion dollars. When the full length of the rail project is completed, passengers will be able to travel by train from San Francisco to Los Angeles in under three hours.
California High-Speed Rail Authority spokesperson Anthony Lopez says the next steps are finalizing the design and preconstruction.
Cost estimates for this first phase could be more than 100 billion dollars. Lopez adds the board's recent action extends environmental clearance of the route between more than 420 miles. The environmental reports for the final two Southern California sections are planned for 2023-24.
California High-Speed Rail Authority board chair emeritus Rod Diridon, says prior to the pandemic, almost 200-thousand people commuted each day from the Central Valley to the Bay Area – driving two- to three-and-a-half hours each way.
Trains traveling at 200 miles per hour will significantly shorten travel times for commuters from the Central Valley.
