The panel that governs California's bullet train plans will meet Thursday in San Diego, providing the public with a chance to comment on the region's high-speed rail progress.
It will be the first meeting of the California High Speed Rail Authority's board of directors since that agency received a $2.25 billion pledge from the federal government for its 800-mile bullet train network.
None of that money is expected to be available for the local 167-mile Los Angeles to San Diego stretch of the project, largely because the region's planning documents won't be done until 2013 at the earliest.
Other rail legs, from San Jose to San Francisco and from Anaheim to Los Angeles, are about a year away from completing their plans and will get slices of the $2.25 billion.
Still, missing out on federal funds doesn't doom San Diego and Riverside counties, said Jeff Barker, the authority's deputy director. State funds from the 2008 voter-approved high-speed rail bond will continue to finance the region's planning effort.
"There's no hindrance to that work," Barker said, referring to plans that call for bringing rail from Los Angeles east to the Inland Empire and south to San Diego along Interstate 15. "It's going to go on as scheduled."
Barker said the board is not expected to decide Thursday how to divvy up the $2.25 billion. Instead, it will discuss the federal requirements attached to the pledge: The money can only be committed to stretches of the project that have completed environmental reviews by September 2011, he said.
The rail authority hosted several public meetings last fall across Riverside and San Diego counties. Comments received at those meetings are being incorporated into further alignment studies through the region, said Jose Martinez, regional manager for San Diego-to-Los Angeles corridor.
Engineers, for example, are analyzing how much room is available on each side of Interstate 15 to potentially run the train along its side. They also are studying where tunnels might be necessary along steep grades, such as near Rainbow and Fallbrook, he said.
Critics doubt the state will ever be able to pay for the project, estimated to cost more than $40 billion. Jim Moore, director of the transportation engineering program at the University of Southern California, calls high-speed rail "fundamentally flawed," saying it won't be a competitive mode of transportation without huge government subsidies.
Martinez said most of the comments he received at last fall's meetings asked for more information rather than dismissing or supporting the plans. In Escondido, he noted, the authority is still considering two alignments: one that would parallel I-15 and another that would veer east to connect with the Escondido Transit Center before linking back with the freeway.
New alternate routes show Highway 56 as a possible corridor for the bullet train. A controversial alignment through Rose Canyon near University City is being reconsidered due to residents' opposition, Martinez said. The 56 or Highway 163 or Interstate 8 could be used as a corridor to move south and west, he added.
Barker noted that Thursday's meeting is the "entirely right and appropriate" time for public comments on how and where the rail line should run.
"We're at a relatively early stage in the process," he added. "There's going to be so many chances for public input before we ever set a shovel in the ground."
Thursday's meeting will be held at 9 a.m. at 401 B St. in San Diego.
Call staff writer Chris Nichols at 760-740-5426.
