FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 22, 2011
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CONTACT: Rachel Wall
rwall@hsr.ca.gov
or 916-384-9026
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FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND
HIGH-SPEED RAIL
SIGN FUNDING AGREEMENT
FOR NEARLY $1 BILLION
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The California High-Speed Rail Authority
announced today that they have signed a cooperative agreement with the Federal
Railroad Administration that will provide $928 million in federal funding for
the construction of the project’s Central Valley segment.
“The announcement of the federal funds makes good on the promise
of our new draft business plan that the funding for the first segment is
identified, committed and we are moving forward,” said Thomas J. Umberg,
Chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board of Directors.
Project construction will begin next fall in Fresno. This initial
construction segment, spanning up to 130-miles, will put 100,000 people to work
over the next five years. More than one million jobs are expected to be created
in the development and operation of the system over the life of the project.
With the funds in today’s agreement, all necessary
federal funding has been secured for the design and construction of the
project’s initial segment in the Central Valley.
The federal funds secured in today’s agreement were originally
awarded in October 2010 and May 2011.
October 2010
FY 2010 High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail Award:
$715 million
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State match (30 percent):
$306 million
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Total: $1.02 billion
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May 2011 re-allocation of Florida funds (FY 2010 High-Speed and
Intercity Passenger Rail):
$214 million
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State match (20 percent):
$53 million
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Total: $267 million
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To date, the Authority has been awarded a total of $3.5 billion in
federal funding to fund design, engineering, and construction on the initial
segment of the high-speed rail system. Total funding committed for construction
on the Central Valley backbone is $6 billion.
California’s High-Speed Train Project
The California High-Speed Rail Authority is developing a San
Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles and Anaheim high-speed rail system that will
operate at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour. The full system will connect all
of the state’s major urban centers, including Sacramento and San Diego. Initial
infrastructure construction will begin in the Central Valley, the backbone of
the system, in 2012. The project is being funded through voter-approved state
bonds, federal funding grants, local funding, and public-private
partnerships.
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