California needs to take High-Speed Rail seriously

California is home to 1 in 10 Americans, and two-thirds of those folks live in the 600-mile stretch from the San Francisco Bay Area to San Diego.

As California’s population and economy continue to grow, traffic keeps getting worse.

But fixing traffic by widening hundreds of miles of freeways and expanding airports costs us hundreds of billions of dollars, takes decades, displaces communities, pollutes our air, and deepens California’s dependency on oil.

We need a fast, sustainable, affordable way to help millions of people get where they need to go. This is why California is building a high-speed rail.

The longest section of the project –119 miles between Bakersfield and Merced is almost complete. Tracks can be laid, and wires put up soon. Once the Central Valley section is done and service starts running, the last hurdles for connecting to the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles are a series of tunnels, less than 200 flat miles through relatively simple terrain, and upgrades to Caltrain and Metrolink rail lines.

While there is still work to be done to complete the largest infrastructure project underway in America, we believe it can be done sooner, better, and at A Lower cost with three reforms

  1. Require PG&E and other utilities to quickly collaborate with the California High-Speed Rail Authority so that utility equipment that impedes the high-speed rail can be relocated soon.

  2. Remove barriers to outside investment, so public-private partnerships can help the next steps of the project.

  3. Require the well-funded highway agency Caltrans and local highway authorities to provide support in upgrading roads (including designing, building, and funding) to bridge or tunnel them out of the project’s path.

The California high-speed rail project has already improved the lives of millions of Californians by:

  • Electrifying the Caltrain corridor from San Francisco to San Jose, leading to record ridership growth and customer satisfaction

  • Providing an economic boon to the Central Valley, creating over 19,000 jobs while making traffic flow smoother and safer

  • Saved Los Angeles Metro riders 20-30 minutes on cross-county trips via the Regional Connector

Let’s make California a more connected, affordable, and vibrant place – and show the world what we can do.

Sign and share the petition today!

Please note— We are not the California High-Speed Rail Authority. For more information from that Government agency, please visit https://hsr.ca.gov/