Meetings Focus on High-Speed Rail Routes in Valley

The California High Speed Rail Authority will hold three meetings in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys this month to present updated route information on the rail section between Palmdale and Burbank. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss three alternative routes before they undergo full environmental impact analysis. The meetings are scheduled for Sept. 14 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Chimbole Cultural Center, 38350 Sierra Highway, Palmdale; on Sept. 17 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at High Desert School, 3620 Antelope Woods Road, Acton; and on Sept. 22 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Fernangeles Recreation Center, 8851 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Sun Valley. The three routes were chosen by the rail authority board in the spring. They would require extensive tunneling under the San Gabriel Mountains before emerging to link with a station near Hollywood Burbank Airport. One of the three new routes would parallel the 14 Freeway and turn south to go under the mountains and emerge near Pacoima. The others would leave Palmdale south of the freeway and tunnel under the mountains with one emerging near Pacoima and the other emerging near Sun Valley. The Palmdale-Burbank section is just one segment of the planned 800-mile, $64.2 billion high-speed rail project that would connect Los Angeles and San Francisco by 2029.