Palo Alto balks at high-speed rail

[marmar]

Palo Alto Daily News, via MassTransitMag:



High-Speed Rail Plan Sparks Regret in Palo Alto, Calif.


By Will Oremus
Palo Alto Daily News


If Palo Alto didn't want bullet trains racing through town, it should have spoken up earlier, California High Speed Rail Authority board member Rod Diridon told the City Council on Monday.

The decision to run the 125-mph trains up the Peninsula via the Caltrain corridor was made in 2008 after years of debate, and revisiting it now could cripple the $40 billion Los Angeles-to-San Francisco project.

Instead, the city should focus on how to make the train work now that it has been approved by the state's voters, Diridon said. The rail authority has heard the city's desire to study running the line underground, and it will examine that possibility, he added. No decisions about the specifics of the tracks' design will be made until after an environmental review.

After unanimously endorsing the high-speed rail plan last fall, Palo Alto officials are struggling with its potential impacts. One possible alignment would put the tracks on a 20-foot-high concrete platform so the trains wouldn't intersect with cross streets. Residents, inflamed by the prospect of a "Berlin Wall" dividing their neighborhoods, have been packing public meetings on the topic. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.masstransitmag.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=3&id=8091

[KamaAina]

1. One of those rare transit issues that made it to GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5186078&mesg_id=5186078