Capitol Alert: SF Peninsula cities want to slow down bullet train

Five cities on the San Francisco Peninsula called today for suspending planning for the state's high-speed train project until vexing environmental and economic issues are resolved.

The demand by the Peninsula Cities Consortium - Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Burlingame and Belmont - follows a report by the University of California's Institute of Transportation Studies that's highly critical of the High-Speed Rail Authority's projections of ridership on the proposed bullet train that would link Northern and Southern California.

The authority's proposed route runs down the peninsula, a string of affluent communities, from San Francisco to San Jose and the region has become a hotbed of opposition.

Menlo Park Mayor Richard Cline, the coalition's chairman, complained that the authority is rushing to complete its route planning and draft environmental impact report so that construction can begin by September, 2012, to qualify the state for federal funds.

"Common sense is absent from the high speed rail discussion," Cline said in a statement. "Right now the authority plans to select a final alignment and release its draft environmental impact report by December of this year under an extremely rushed project schedule that is dictated solely by the desire for federal funds.

"The project is suffering from an enormous credibility problem, due to its widely criticized business plan, faulty ridership numbers and the absence of funding to carry out the project statewide - let alone offer realistic alternatives for the section planned on the peninsula. There also is no stated plan for paying to operate high speed rail once it is built, and we fear local taxpayers may be left holding the bag."

The UC report was commissioned by the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee, whose members have been critical of the rail authority's revenue and ridership projections. The Legislature's budget analyst has also questioned the authority's data.

Some environmental groups have also criticized the proposed route, which would run over the Pacheco Pass between San Jose and the Central Valley, complaining that it would open up the largely open space coastal mountain region to development. They have urged that the train run over the already busy Altamont Pass southwest of Stockton, but that route would leave San Jose off the main route, which would alienate that city's boosters.

The project, whose cost has ballooned to well over $40 billion, would be financed with a $9.95 billion, voter-approved bond issue, federal funds and private investors. But to date, the state has received only a $2.25 billion federal grant, and that's contingent on the accelerated construction schedule that the Peninsula Cities Consortium says is moving too quickly.

The consortium's full statement can be found here.