Kings County remains in loop for high-speed rail stop

Kings County residents still have a chance to someday be within footsteps of a bullet train, a transportation planner said during a speaking visit to town Wednesday. Eric VonBerg, a planning manager for Fresno-based URS Corporation -- which studies environmental, land use and transportation issues -- told a Chamber of Commerce lunch gathering at Hanford's Comfort Inn that five locations in Tulare and Kings counties are expected to be studied to determine a high-speed rail stop in the region.

Already, VonBerg said, the stop has been determined to be feasible. Now the California High-Speed Rail Authority will determine if and where the stop could be built. Central Valley stops are already slated for Fresno and Bakersfield.

"There's going to be 1 million people in the region by 2020," he said. "The chance that there will be a stop is very high. There's no negative to having a train here."

With California voters green-lighting Proposition 1A earlier this month, a zero-emissions high-speed rail linking the San Francisco Bay Area to the Los Angeles region through a possible stop locally is one step closer to fruition, VonBerg said.

The $9.95 billion bond is expected to jump start the construction of the rail system that would whisk passengers from Los Angeles to the Bay Area through Central Valley in just two-and-a-half hours -- at a breathtaking speed of up to 220 mph.

According to VonBerg citing a study made by a UC Merced professor, $48 billion annually could be reaped by Central Valley with the rail project in full operation. The savings would come mostly from the Valley's integration with the Bay Area and Los Angeles. With added taxes, $46 million annually would flow to counties and cities in the Valley.

"The project would be a catalyst for growth," said VonBerg, citing the Valley's integration with the rest of California.

The bond would cover about a quarter of the cost of the high-speed rail project. Other sources include federal and private resources. A federal high-speed rail funding bill was recently signed by President George W. Bush with the project in mind. Federal and private sources would have to be secured before bond money could be spent.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2423.

(Nov. 20, 2008)