High-speed rail board approves plans to unlock bond billions
The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s board took a “momentous” step Tuesday toward unlocking billions of dollars in state bond funds that it needs to continue construction in the San Joaquin Valley and on the San Francisco Peninsula.
In a series of 7-0 votes at their meeting in Sacramento, board members approved funding plans for the Central Valley and San Francisco-San Jose segments, as well as authorizing the issuance of a “request for qualifications” from potential train-operating companies to guide the planning and earliest stages of operations for the bullet train system between the San Joaquin and Silicon valleys.
The two funding plans are required by state law before the authority can use any money from Proposition 1A, the $9.9 billion high-speed rail bond act approved by California voters in 2008.
Under the provisions of Proposition 1A and subsequent 2012 legislation providing construction funds for the rail authority, the agency has to submit a funding plan that, among other things, details the estimated construction costs for a “usable segment” of the system, identifies the sources of money to build it and provides an assessment of projected ridership and operating revenue.
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article120663518.html
