Action
Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.
Summary
This notice is to advise the public that FRA and the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) will jointly prepare a project Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and project Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the San Jose to Merced section of the Authority's proposed California High-Speed Train (HST) System in compliance with relevant state and federal laws, in particular the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). In 2005, the Authority and FRA completed the first tier California High Speed Train Program EIR/EIS and approved the statewide HST system for intercity travel in California between the major metropolitan centers of Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area in the north, through the Central Valley, to Los Angeles and San Diego in the south. The approved HST system would be about 800-miles long, with electric propulsion and steel-wheel-on-steel-rail trains capable of maximum operating speeds of 220 miles per hour (mph) on a mostly dedicated system of fully grade-separated, access-controlled steel tracks and with state-of-the-art safety, signaling, communication, and automated train control systems. In approving the HST system, the Authority and FRA also selected preferred corridor alignments and station location options throughout most of the system. In 2008, the Authority and FRA completed a second program EIR/EIS to evaluate alignments and station locations within the broad corridor between and including the Altamont Pass and the Pacheco Pass to connect the Bay Area and Central Valley portions of the HST system. The Authority and FRA selected the Pacheco Pass with San Francisco and San Jose termini network alternative, as well as preferred corridor alignments and station location options. The selected alignment uses the Caltrain rail right-of-way, between San Francisco and San Jose along the San Francisco Peninsula, through the Pacheco Pass and via Henry Miller Road, between San Jose and the Central Valley. The preparation of the San Jose to Merced HST Project EIR/EIS will involve development of preliminary engineering designs and assessment of environmental effects associated with the construction, operation, and maintenance of the HST system, including track, ancillary facilities and a Gilroy station, along the Caltrain/UPRR corridor from San Jose to Gilroy, through the Pacheco Pass, and via Henry Miller Road in the Central Valley.