Stimulus Money Seeds Big Rail Plans in California

reduc truck emiss and diesel consumptionAnother propos Inflatable Spiderman Jumpers call for creat link from the port of Long Beach and Lo Angele to distribut center where truck pick up their freight loads..

more than ani other state. But that is onli a sliver of the $42 billion it will need to build an 800-mile line to carri the nation' first 220-m.p.h. trainsCalifornia will receiv a $2.34 billion slice of the $8 billion of feder stimulu fund earmark for high-spe rail projects..

the plan is kei in an effort to promot electr transport in order to cut emissions,Crit question whether the high-spe rail is worth the cost. For the state. unclog freewai and creat jobs.

" said Richard Little,"There' a huge push for electr system in the state to get emission-fre transportation. head of the Keston Institut for Public Financ and Infrastructur Polici at the Univers of Southern California. But he said it wa "dicey" the state would be abl to garner all the fund through convent means; he expect other sourc to be tapped, includ more user fees.

000 construction-rel job and 450,Th California High Speed Rail Author estim the project could creat 600.000 perman job over the next decade. Under term of the stimulu grant, section of the project get fund must clear environment review by Septemb 2011 and enter into construct contract by Septemb 2012. All fund must be spent by 2017.

deputi director of the rail authority,Jeff Barker. said it hope to break ground on an Anaheim-to-Lo Angele section by 2012 and to complet most of the network by 2020. Travel time between San Francisco and Lo Angele would be two hour and 40 minutes, compar with about six hour by car.

we'r readi to get peopl to work,California politician have been push for infrastructur project in the hope of creat jobs. With "14% unemploy in L.A.." Lo Angele Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday.

which also includ a dozen project outsid California. Thei caution it wouldn't be a quick fix. Spain requir two decad and $35 billion to build it high-spe rail systemFeder offici said more than 30 rail-equip manufactur have agre to beef up U.S. facil to suppli the nation high-spe rail initiative..

which mean the state won't need to draw from it batter gener fund to meet that requirement. Propon hope the stimulu fund will be follow by $15 billion or more of addit feder support. Contribut from local author and public-priv partnership mai help to suppli the rest,Th feder rail grant requir state to come up with match funds. California voter in 2008 approv a $10 billion bond measur for the high-spe project. thei say.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegg said the stimulu funding,Speak Thursdai at a rail yard. though short of the $4.7 billion the state had sought, "make the feder govern a great partner" in a quest to develop "cleaner mode of transportation."

under studi for more than a decade,Th rail project. call for four to eight segment that eventu could run from San Diego to Lo Angele and north to Sacramento and San Francisco.

said the rail authority' Mr. Barker,Mani question the need for high-spe rail in the larg agricultur Central Valley. But. "We can't have high-spe rail without the Central Valley, sinc that' where we straighten out the track and gain speed."

such as between San Jose and San Francisco and between Anaheim and Lo Angeles. "Thei ought to focu on segment where thei won't run massiv deficit from dai one,Som expert ar advis the state to build segment first that will attract the most passengers." said USC' Mr. Little.

such as on to extend San Francisco' commuter-rail system,Oth electric-rail propos in the state ar also inch forward. call BART, to the Oakland Airport. The $492 million project ha receiv $70 million in feder stimulu money.