NEWS RELEASE: High-Speed Rail Board Completes Environmental Clearance to Connect Silicon Valley and Central Valley

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) Board of Directors today certified the Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) and unanimously approved the approximately 90-mile San Jose to Merced project section in Northern California. This action completes the environmental clearance for nearly 400 miles of the high-speed rail project’s 500-mile Phase 1 alignment from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim – including a contiguous stretch between Merced and Palmdale plus January’s clearance of the Burbank to Los Angeles section.