2-State Panel to Include Palmdale in Study of High-Speed Train Sites

A two-state commission meeting here Saturday ordered a study of eight California locales, including Palmdale, proposed as station sites for a futuristic high-speed train linking Las Vegas with the Los Angeles area.

The $145,000 study will consider ridership potential, and economic and environmental effects in each of the nine communities.

When the report is complete--probably in October--the 16-member California-Nevada Super Speed Ground Transportation Committee will select a route and station sites for the proposed 200-m.p.h. train.

“This study will allow us to decide how requests for proposals will be drafted and whether we want to drop locations from the list,” said Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), commission chairman.

The California areas chosen for further study are Barstow, Victor Valley, Palmdale, Palm Springs, Ontario, the San Bernardino Valley, western Riverside County and Anaheim.

In Nevada, the study will focus on Las Vegas and Clark County.

Citing the lure of the Magic Kingdom and other tourist attractions, Anaheim officials have vigorously supported their city as an ideal terminus for the train and had hoped that the commission would decide in their favor at Saturday’s meeting.

Aggressive Campaign

However, San Fernando Valley officials recently have mounted an aggressive campaign touting a northern route through Palmdale that would terminate in Mission Hills. Most public support at Saturday’s meeting was for the northern route.

“We would very much favor a route through Palmdale because it would support the enormous population that is moving north from Los Angeles” into the Antelope Valley, said Palmdale Mayor William Knight.

At an average of more than 250 m.p.h., the high-speed train could whisk travelers between Las Vegas and Southern California in 70 minutes, according to early feasibility studies.

Those studies also project that as many as 3.6 million passengers would ride the train during its first year of operation, at a round-trip fare of $65.

Promoters of the so-called super train believe that the concept will generate enough private investment to cover the more than $2.5-billion construction and operation costs.