The state of California decided to build the first bullet train system in the country with the Bakersfield-Bay Area route. The recent shift scrapped the previous plan to run it between Bakersfield and Los Angeles.
The proposed plan is expected to start operation by 2025 where the pioneer 250-mile bullet train will run from Bakersfield to San Jose. The change in segments will help prevent costly tunnels and constructions of viaducts in the San Gabriel and Tehachapi mountains.
"High-speed rail can't get to the Bay Area fast enough, so this is great news for our entire region," said Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco.
The decision to build in the Bay Area comes with hopes to generate more support and attract private investors. California High-Speed Rail Authority chairman Dan Richard said the decision shift must be approved first by the authority's board.
The shift from L.A. to Bay Area lowers the overall costs to just $64 billion from the original $68 billion. Officials said that by 2025, the Caltrain will be 100 percent electric and can connect to San Francisco immediately.
"The updated business plan seems to be great news and is an encouraging sign that state funds already committed to constructing electrification will be available in time for Caltrain to award contracts and start work on the project without any delay to the modernization program," said Caltrain.
The Caltrain Modernization Program involves the electrification of lines between San Jose and San Francisco as well as the addition of high-performance vehicles called the electric multiple units (EMUs). The signal system of the railroads will also be upgraded plus, an advanced Positive Train Control safety system will be implemented. Caltrain said that an electrified system will reduce its criteria pollutant emissions by as much as 97 percent.
In 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown joined the state officials for the groundbreaking of the country's first high-speed railway system in Fresno. The rail line's first 29-mile segment is expected to be completed by October 2017. During the 2015 groundbreaking ceremony, Brown said the high-speed rail will link the "past to the future" and the "south to Fresno and the north." He said that it was a California project that brought them all together that day.
