High-Speed Rail Board completes Northern California environmental clearance

The final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIR/EIS) for the approximately 43-mile project for the San Francisco to San Jose section has been approved by the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board of Directors.

In approving the project section, the Board of Directors selected the Preferred Alternative (Alternative A). This alternative builds on the Caltrain electrification project and incorporates the infrastructure necessary to run high-speed rail service in the corridor. 

The approved Alternative A extends from the previously approved San Jose high-speed rail station and includes new high-speed rail stations in San Francisco and Millbrae; construction of a light maintenance facility on the east side of the Caltrain corridor in Brisbane, and improvements for safety and speed in the region.

The action taken Thursday completes the environmental clearance for high-speed rail in Northern California and extends environmental clearance to 420 miles of the project’s 500-mile alignment from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim.

The approval of the San Francisco to San Jose high-speed rail project section and its environmental document represents a major milestone in advancing the entire statewide program by linking the San Francisco Bay Area and the Peninsula to San Jose, the Central Valley, and Los Angeles County in Southern California. 

The board’s certification of the San Francisco to San Jose Final EIR/EIS and approval of its project section will move the project section closer to being “shovel ready” when funding for final design, pre-construction and construction becomes available. The Final EIR/EIS can be found on the Authority’s website here.