Galanter: Palmdale vital stop in bullet train system

Speaking at the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles at one of the authority's regular meetings, Galanter pointed to the need to develop the Palmdale Regional Airport as a reason for supporting a route through the Antelope Valley connecting Los Angeles and Bakersfield.

"High-speed rail, if it connects California's major population centers, offers the opportunity to improve access among major business centers and to create the new airport this state so desperately needs for anticipated future aviation growth," Galanter said.

"To accomplish this, the state's highest priority for high-speed rail should be the north-south linkage of downtown Los Angeles with Sacramento, Stockton, San Jose, and downtown San Francisco. Specifically, the route of such a linkage should be through Palmdale for a new airport on land already assembled and designated for same."

Galanter has been a fierce opponent of plans to expand Los Angeles International Airport, instead encouraging development of Palmdale's airport, which hasn't offered commercial flights in nearly two years.

Proponents of having a highspeed rail stop in Palmdale argue that speedy ground transportation would allow airline passengers to fly into Palmdale and hop a bullet train to Los Angeles - a trip that could take less than 30 minutes, according to estimates.

A business plan for a 680-mile statewide bullet train system recently completed and approved by the nine-member authority calls for two routes from Bakersfield to Los Angeles to be studied.

One proposal suggests the train parallel Interstate 5 and pass over the Grapevine; the other states the train should have a stop in Palmdale.

Opponents of having Palmdale as a stop claim that a route through the Valley would require more high-speed track, increasing costs. Opponents also say the Valley alignment would add up to 15 minutes to the trip, costing the line crucial ridership to keep the system afloat.

Two years ago the city of Palmdale funded a study that refutes these findings and shows that a Valley alignment would be more cost effective and would generate millions of dollars per year in economic benefits for the area.

The decision may ultimately rest in the hands of the state Legislature and Gov. Gray Davis.

Davis and both the Senate and Assembly versions of the state budget include funding for an environmental impact report, requested by the authority, making it likely the project will survive at least a year.

The report will examine costs, land purchases and environmental concerns.

Advocates for the Valley alignment believe that report will cast a favorable shadow on Palmdale as a high-speed rail stop.

"I think that's going to show very clearly when it's done that the Antelope Valley will be the most cost-effective alignment," said David Myers, north county manager of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation. "Not only in terms of being the cheapest to build but also it's going to produce the greatest benefit to the state."

Myers, a former Palmdale city councilman, once represented the area at high- speed rail meetings.

Myers and other proponents of the Valley alignment also point out that by paralleling Interstate 5, the train would not be serving the bulk of the region's future population.

The only sizable town between Santa Clarita and Bakersfield is Gorman, which is much smaller than either Lancaster or Palmdale.

According to a report by the Southern California Association of Governments, the population of the Valley will grow to 1.2 million by 2020, when a bullet train would likely be up and running.

"Politics 101 says you need to build a train that's going to service as many people as possible, and you serve a lot more people going through the AV as you do through Gorman."

If and when the estimated $25 billion to $30 billion high-speed rail system is built, it's imperative the city is included, Myers said, adding: "Our economic future depends upon it."