Hi-Speed Rail Meeting Still on Track

Although the future of California’s high-speed rail may be cloudier than ever, the city of Lancaster is hosting an open house on the rail project that is supposed to come through the Antelope Valley. The meeting takes place from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 25 in the city council chambers at Lancaster City Hall, 44933 Fern Ave. Attendees can learn more about the proposed 80-mile section that would connect Bakersfield with the Antelope Valley and would go through Lancaster and into Palmdale. There will be no formal presentation of the project which allows residents, business owners and other interested stakeholders to come and go as their schedules permit. The bullet train is dependent to a degree on federal funding, and it is unclear whether the incoming Donald Trump administration will pull that money. The Bakersfield to Palmdale section is just one segment of the 800-mile $64.2 billion high-speed rail project that is supposed to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco by 2029. Infrastructure construction has already started in the Central Valley.