High-speed rail shunted to slow track

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma recently got a heart-thumping preview of what she hopes is her state's transportation future.

On a "fact-finding" trip to France with Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez -- paid with campaign funds, Ma said -- Ma scored a seat on that country's newest bullet train as it hit a world record 357 mph.

"We took off at like twice the speed of a commercial airliner," said Ma, D-San Francisco, who admitted to a touch of nervousness. "An airplane was whizzing next to us, we were going so fast."

Such is not the case for high-speed rail on the home front.

After a decade of planning and an estimated $40 million spent, California's dream of 2 1/2-hour rail trips between San Francisco and Los Angeles is stalled at the station this month -- and some say may never come true -- as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators tussle over funding.

Schwarzenegger turned the project planning on its ear last month by proposing a minimalist $5.2 million budget next year for the High Speed Rail Authority.

High-speed rail officials had asked for $103 million to do detailed engineering work and start buying land for the rail right of way.

Mehdi Morshed, executive director of the High Speed Rail Authority, contends the governor's proposal could be a death sentence for bullet trains in California.

"The project is for all practical purposes dead," he said. "We might as well close shop. Having our office open serves no public purpose."

Assembly and Senate leaders are negotiating a compromise budget they intend to present to the governor.

The Assembly proposes $50 million; the Senate suggests $40 million.

Schwarzenegger budget officials say the administration is holding firm and believes the governor's proposal will merely slow the state's pursuit of bullet trains while broader-priority budget problems get resolved.

Adding to the consternation among rail advocates, Schwarzenegger also is calling on the Legislature to postpone next year's planned $10 billion high-speed rail bond measure.

Rail proponents view that measure -- already postponed from 2006 -- as a pivotal step toward making bullet trains a reality here.

Instead, Schwarzenegger says he wants the High Speed Rail Authority to first win commitments from private investors for roughly $10 billion of the total expected $40 billion bullet train cost.

"I'm a big believer in high-speed rail," Schwarzenegger said in a speech last week. "I think this high-speed rail is a great possibility, but I want us working on ... private partnerships. Then we can commit to the $10 billion to put in from the public sector."

The debate has led to public finger-wagging in recent days between Schwarzenegger and some California congressional representatives.

Led by longtime high-speed rail advocate Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, several dozen California representatives sent the governor a public letter urging him to agree to $50 million for the rail authority this year.

Schwarzenegger returned the favor Wednesday, sending Costa a letter urging California's congressional members to hold up their end of the deal by working on federal funding for the project.

High-speed rail director Morshed said he doesn't really know where his project stands with the governor, but said he disagrees with the governor's timing on financing.

The first influx of major financing needs to come from next year's public bond measure, not from private companies, he said. Private investors are unlikely to commit until the state and its voters show they are serious by approving the planned $10 billion bond in 2008.

"After all, it's a state project," Morshed said. "Unless the state puts its own money up as a leader, the others aren't going to come to the table."

Morshed said the $103 million he requested this year was to fund existing contracts for engineering work and to start buying land.

His hope, he said, is to construct a starter line between Los Angeles and Anaheim and a 100-mile high-speed test track near Bakersfield in the next half-dozen years.

He said he wants to have an initial full high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Anaheim built in 10 years. Extensions to Sacramento and San Diego would follow as money becomes available.

Morshed said the governer's budget would force him to cancel existing contracts, but the $50 million proposed by the Assembly would allow those contracts to continue.

The financing debate at the capital this week is the latest of debates over the years about the feasibility of California's efforts to join Japan and France and other countries with high-speed rail, and to become the first state to build a bullet train.

Proponents, notably in the Central Valley and the many cities the trains will pass through, say the system will be more than a transportation alternative. It will provide an economic boon by closely connecting inland cities to the coast.

Assemblywoman Ma argues that high-speed trains offer an environmentally superior alternative to highways and congestion, and to the growing congestion in airports.

"People are tired of sitting in their cars long hours, and tired of waiting at airports for flights that maybe show up, maybe don't," she said. "They want easy, affordable, dependable transportation. I am convinced this is a concept that California needs to get on board."

Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, takes the opposite tack.

"Before the state invests in a completely new mode of transportation that people aren't using, it ought to fix the roads and expand opportunities for air travel that people are using," he said.

High-speed rail authority chief Morshed says he feels like he's a yo-yo.

"One day up, one day down," he said.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Tony Bizjak can be reached at (916) 321-1059 or tbizjak@sacbee.com.