The California High-Speed Rail Authority has released the latest environmental report for its 30-mile segment connection Los Angeles to Anaheim, the last portion of the vast state-spanning system that has yet to receive environmental clearance.
The release of the Authority’s draft environmental document is the considered a major step toward achieving full environmental clearance for the nation’s first high-speed rail system, completing the tedious work of clearing all 494 miles of the proposed Phase 1 route. The Bay Area to Los Angeles was fully cleared last June.
The draft environmental document is available for public comment now through Feb. 3, 2026.
“The release of this environmental document represents an important step toward full environmental clearance,” said LaDonna DiCamillo, Southern California regional director of the High-Speed Rail Authority. “This marks a significant and important milestone in connecting end to end from Southern California to Northern California.”
The southernmost portion of the statewide system will connect Los Angeles Union Station in downtown L.A. to the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center—ARTIC center.
Trains will travel along a relatively congested area on the system’s route through a corridor currently shared with existing passenger and freight rail companies. The corridor includes Los Angeles, Vernon, Commerce, Bell, Montebello, Pico Rivera, Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs, portions of unincorporated L.A. County and La Mirada, before crossing over in Orange County via Buena Park, Fullerton and Anaheim.
General views of Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) on July 11, 2020 in Anaheim, California. (Getty Images)
The draft environmental document includes proposals that include Alternative A, which features a shared passenger track with a light maintenance facility at 26th Street, and Alternative B, which is a shared passenger track with a facility at 15th Street. There’s also a third option, which includes a single “intermediate high-speed rail station” to be added at an existing Metrolink station, and a fourth option, which would be to forego building the project entirely,
CAHSR has officially endorsed Alternative A as its preferred option.
The California High-Speed Rail system is designed to take travelers from Northern California to Southern California via newly constructed railroads that cut through the Central Valley, connecting cities like Bakersfield and Fresno to the state’s major economic hubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The initial operating segment, which is tentatively planned to open in the early 2030s, hopes to build out the Central Valley portion of the system and potentially connect to regional railroads that service the Bay Area and Los Angeles Basin. A timeline for the complete system, connecting San Francisco to Anaheim by way of 220 mph electric trains, remains uncertain.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority recently secured steady, reliable funding from the state legislature, which its leaders hope will allow for more consistent cash flow, financing opportunities and potential partnerships with the private sector.
FILE – The Tied Arch Bridge construction site, which will take high-speed trains over State Route 43, April 15, 2025, in Fresno County, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)
Design and construction work is currently underway along 171 miles of the Central Valley between Merced and Bakersfield, and the Authority is close to laying its first track sometime next year.
“Nearly 80 miles of guideway are complete, along with nearly 60 fully completed major structures, and more than 30 structures underway across Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties,” the CAHSR Authority said in a news release Friday.
There will be multiple opportunities to comment on the newly released environmental document before the Feb. 3 deadline. To read the full document and find resources for public comment, click here.
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