IDEAL vs REAL
If you ’ re a visionary , a modern railway has the potential to connect people with jobs , universities , affordable housing and cultural activities that are currently either too far away or require hours per day of travel on congested highways . Railway station areas can create opportunities for cities to reinvent themselves as regional hubs for commerce and community life . A high-speed rail system , connected to local transportation , can support more geographicallybalanced population growth , and economic growth , over the long haul .
If you ’ re a pragmatist , a public works project needs to meet the letter of the law . A modern railway needs a credible designbuild strategy , schedule , and budget . It needs environmental and regulatory approvals and funding commitments before the first shovel hits the dirt . It needs a passenger base and fare structure to operate in the black within an agreed-upon timeframe . If any of these conditions aren ’ t met , the project would have to be scaled back , delayed , or somehow reinvented .
For the average citizen , it ’ s a lot to figure out , but we can ’ t afford not to . There ’ s too much at stake . Join gmhTODAY as we explore high-speed rail in this third installment in our Infrastructure Series .
MEET BEN TRIPOUSIS
PLAYING in the BIG LEAGUES
The California High-Speed Rail Authority ( CHSRA ) is literally “ the Authority ” tasked with planning , designing , and building — but not operating — what will be America ’ s first statewide high-speed rail system .
Its Northern California Regional Director , Ben Tripousis , likens the High-Speed Rail to “ legacy projects ” such as the University of California system , the Golden Gate Bridge , and the State Water Project .
“ Investing in High-Speed Rail is investing in California ’ s future and the mobility of 50 million people by 2050 ,” he said .
The HSR project identifies 24 rail stations connecting roughly 800 miles from Sacramento to San Diego . If all goes according to plan , Phase I will connect the Central Valley to Silicon Valley , and San Francisco to Anaheim , with trains in operation by 2029 . Phase II will extend the rail system north to Sacramento and south to San Diego by 2040 .
The capital budget for Phase I now hovers around $ 64.2 billion — nearly double the original estimate . Experts familiar with large-scale infrastructure projects say that figure could exceed $ 120 billion before Phase I is completed .
As Tripousis explained , those budget numbers represent “ year of expenditure ” dollars . For a project that ’ s expected to span more than three decades , it ’ s an important distinction .
Prop 1A established a $ 9.95 billion general obligation bond to help finance the project with the bulk of funding to be secured from federal , local , and private sources . With a 30-year payoff of principal and interest , that ’ s nearly $ 20 billion of bond debt — a mere fraction of the total bill . More on this later .
Annual ridership is projected to be somewhere between 19.6 million and 31.8 million — down from the original estimate of 65.5 million to 117 million . Projections for passenger fares between San Francisco and L . A . have risen to $ 86 — up from $ 50 .
How all of this pencils out when the Authority releases its 2018 Business Plan Update is uncertain , but we ’ re playing in the big leagues now .
Ben Tripousis serves as Northern California Regional Director for the High-Speed Rail Authority . It ’ s a tough job working on a multiyear project with endless moving parts . He deals with dozens of agencies at the local , state and federal levels ; each has its own agenda . With 800 miles of rail system and 24 stations to build , the volume of environmental , regulatory , and technical details must be exhausting . Before joining CHSRA in 2012 , he was Transportation Policy Manager for the City of San José . He holds a Bachelor ’ s degree in
Political Science from UC Berkeley and a Master ’ s in Public Administration from San José State .
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN JULY / AUGUST 2017 gmhtoday . com