Fresno Bee: $54 million coming for high-speed rail project in Central California. Plan includes new station
By Tim Sheehan
Plans for a new train station south of Madera serving Amtrak and future high-speed rail trains got a boost this week with a $54 million federal grant.
The grant, announced this week by U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, will help pay for the construction of a relocated train station near Avenue 12 in Madera County for Amtrak’s San Joaquin trains and high-speed rail service.
Madera’s existing Amtrak station north of the city near Avenue 19 and Road 26 has a sheltered platform where passengers can board trains, but no ticket office or enclosed waiting area.
The San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, which oversees the Amtrak trains that run from Bakersfield to the Bay Area on the BNSF Railway freight tracks, is planning and designing a new station to be built about eight miles to the southeast.
The new station will be tucked between the existing BNSF tracks and the future high-speed rail line, north of Avenue 12 and east of Road 30 1/2.
“The Madera high-speed rail station is a key component of the upcoming Merced-Bakersfield high-speed rail service and will create better transportation options, good-paying construction jobs, and cleaner air for Central Valley residents,” Padilla said in a statement.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s initial plans for its route from Bakersfield to Merced included massive stations in Fresno, Merced, Bakersfield and Hanford. Project officials introduced a Madera station in 2016 only after Madera and Madera County leaders complained that the community would be little more than a “fly-by” area for bullet trains zipping through the Valley between Fresno and Merced.
Unlike the planned stations in Merced, Fresno, Hanford and Bakersfield – which are being designed and built by contractors for the high-speed rail agency – the Amtrak-supervising San Joaquin JPA is taking responsibility for the Madera station.
Phase 1 of the relocation project includes construction of a new station to serve Amtrak trains and has an expected completion date of mid-2025, according to the San Joaquin JPA. The project’s second phase will expand the station site to serve high-speed trains that are projected to begin passenger operations between 2030 and 2033.
“The existing Madera San Joaquins station, which is nearly three miles north of Madera, has extremely low ridership and lacks connecting bus service in the area due to its location,” according to a 2022 project overview. The Avenue 12 location will “better meet regional goals of improving ridership and connectivity.”
Phase 1 of the project is forecast to cost about $24.9 million for a passenger boarding platform, a building with restrooms and ticket machines, a parking lot, and a parking area for transfer buses.
Officials estimate Phase 2 will cost about about $130 million. The San Joaquin JPA partnered with Caltrans in the application for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Infrastructure Project Assistance, or MEGA, program.
In a joint application for a MEGA grant in 2022, Caltrans and the San Joaquin JPA requested $87.6 million for the new station, but did not were rejected, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The two agencies reapplied in 2023, seeking more than $90.6 million, but again did not secure a grant in the 2023-24 fiscal year.
In addition to managing the Amtrak San Joaquins rail service, the San Joaquin JPA will also be the operating agency for the high-speed trains that will run on what is being called an interim operating segment from Bakersfield through Hanford, Fresno, Madera and Merced.
The state’s High-Speed Rail Authority has environmentally cleared the entire 463-mile route from San Francisco to Los Angeles, but lacks the funding to construct the bullet-train system beyond the Central Valley.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $220.6 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to a pair of projects in California. In addition to the funds for construction of the new Madera passenger rail station, about $166 million was provided to extend an express lane on northbound I-690 in Contra Costa County.
Read the full article here.