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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on a California board meeting to discuss the revised high-speed rail plan (all times local):
4:30 p.m.
The board that oversees California's high-speed rail project has approved the latest $64 billion business plan calling for trains to run from the Central Valley to the San Jose area starting in 2025.
Board members approved the plan Thursday after delaying the vote by a week.
Rail officials have pitched a $21 billion first segment between Merced and San Jose as the only way to ensure a useable segment gets built with the existing funding.
Previous business plans had called for the bullet train to head first to the San Fernando Valley.
Support for the project has waned since voters approved high-speed rail in 2008.
Chairman Dan Richard says although San Jose may get the first trains, Los Angeles County and Anaheim will see the first big spending.
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2:30 a.m.
The board that oversees California's massive high-speed rail project is meeting in Sacramento on Thursday afternoon to consider a new $64 billion business plan.
The updated plan calls for a station in Merced and the first stretch to go from the Central Valley to the San Jose area.
It's a change from previous plans that called for the bullet train to first connect high-speed rail from the Central Valley to the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, then to head north.
But rail officials say with limited funding, this approach is better because the state can ensure a useable segment gets built for about $21 billion relying only on existing funding.
It also avoids the tricky engineering work of tunneling through the Tehachapi mountains and delays residents' complaints for a while.
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