one application process closer to high speed rail in ca

Fresno Bee reports:

California's bullet train planners are going after $4.6 billion in federal stimulus money, including nearly $1.3 billion to begin work on the route from Merced to Bakersfield through Fresno.

The state High Speed Rail Authority unanimously approved the application at a hearing Wednesday, along with plans to match the funding with state and local money.

[...]

California's application seeks more than half of the $8 billion in federal stimulus money dedicated to high-speed rail construction.
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Regions expected to compete for the money include Florida, the Northeast and the Midwest. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must formally submit California's bid by Oct. 2.

The rail line, estimated to cost about $40 billion, is planned to eventually run from Sacramento and San Francisco to San Diego, with trains hitting top speeds of 220 mph.

We'll see how this turns out; California will be competing with a lot of other folks for these funds. Notably, California's HSR proposal seems to be the only one that envisions 220mph trains, though it is unlikely these speeds would be reached outside of the Central Valley stretch of the line. I imagine the remainder would resemble Amtrak's current Northeast Corridor Acela service, traveling at about a third of that speed.

The Northeast should have a strong application, given the existing high rail ridership and experience from medium-speed Amtrak Acela service (79 mph). None of these funds could go to pushing Acela up to its supposed max speed of 150, but additional branches to Pittsburgh, Albany and Buffalo, and even possibly Montreal would see trains traveling up to 125mph.

The Midwest proposal involves eight states (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri) centering around Chicago as the hub city; their proposal is tied into the effort to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. A couple of downsides of the Midwest proposal: 1) the trains wouldn't be true high speed, with maximum speeds of 110mph, the minimum required for ARRA high-speed rail funds, and; 2) one of the most useful routes, St. Louis to Chicago, may not happen anytime soon, given that it would require an additional $1.9 billion or so just to build new track for that already busy corridor.

Florida is seeking $2.5 billion to link Tampa and Orlando, a rail network that would eventually also link Orlando and Miami.