A “major milestone” for California HSR




The California High Speed Rail Authority has approved environmental impact studies for
 an initial segment of high speed rail from Merced to Fresno.

The approval clears the
 way for expected legal challenges from Central Valley agricultural 
interests that the Authority must resolve before
 it can move forward on a project, now estimated to cost $68 billion, that would 
operate 200-mph trains between Los Angeles and San Francisco.



“Today we reached a major milestone toward making high-speed rail a 
reality,” said Dan Richard (pictured, at left), chairman of the agency’s board of directors, which met in Fresno on April 3.



Government permits and construction contracts for the first phase must 
await approval of final state and federal environmental reports

.