{"id":437977,"date":"2026-08-20T04:02:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T04:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/437977\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T04:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T04:02:27","slug":"merced-community-demands-answers-over-high-speed-rail-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/437977\/","title":{"rendered":"Merced community demands answers over high-speed rail station"},"content":{"rendered":"

Merced officials and activists say the California High-Speed Rail Authority<\/a> has so far failed to face residents and fully explain its plans to build its Merced station in a rural space outside city limits rather than downtown as planned.<\/p>\n

The state agency revealed the idea in January<\/a> and says it could save $1 billion for the project. Speaking during Wednesday\u2019s rail board meeting, Merced County Supervisor Josh Pedrozo said his constituents \u201cdon\u2019t believe it\u201d and that he\u2019s continuously asked the agency to explain the plan to residents directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t get you guys to come and explain this, but you can go to Fresno and speak at Fresno,” Pedrozo said. \u201cYou have to go through Merced to get to Fresno. It doesn\u2019t make any sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pedrozo was not alone in his frustration at Wednesday\u2019s meeting, which came two days after rail authority CEO Ian Choudri spoke in Fresno at a Rotary Club luncheon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Others said the rail authority still has not provided a clear picture of its Merced plans and criticized the agency for pursuing ideas that require changes to state law rather than sticking with the project\u2019s previous promises.<\/p>\n

A 2022 state law called SB 198<\/a> defines the rail\u2019s Central Valley segment as 171-mile, dual-track line between Bakersfield and downtown Merced. State legislators would have to amend the law for the rail authority to instead build the Merced station off Highway 99 and Mission Avenue \u2014 a location that would also shorten the Central Valley segment.<\/p>\n

The idea came after the rail authority last August published various, alternative build-out scenarios that did not include Merced at all in the project\u2019s initial phase. Merced officials and advocates have not missed a rail board meeting since .<\/p>\n

\u201cMerced County and the city have continued to be a willing partner, but at what cost?\u201d Pedrozo said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"Merced Merced County District 2 Supervisor Josh Pedrozo speaks during a rededication ceremony for the historic Merced County Courthouse in Merced, Calif., on Monday, May 5, 2025. The ceremony was held 150 years to the day from when the courthouse was originally dedicated in 1875. Andrew Kuhn akuhn@mercedsun-star.com \u2018Groundhog day\u2019 for Merced at rail board<\/p>\n

During his public comment at the rail board, Pedrozo said it was like \u201cgroundhog day\u201d asking the state agency to send someone to Merced.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re just continuing to beat our heads against the wall and expect you guys to do something,\u201d he said. “Please come to our community and explain what is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merced Deputy City Manager Frank Quintero followed. He said the city would like the rail authority to participate in an \u201copen house\u201d in Merced next month or early October.<\/p>\n

Quintero said, currently, local officials are \u201cstanding alone\u201d trying to explain the rail authority\u2019s plans to residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur desire is not to be an impediment or create delays in your process, but to move and come to terms and find solutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Henry Perea, a rail board member from Fresno, said he would work on setting up a Merced meeting.<\/p>\n

CA rail authority criticized for plans to change law<\/p>\n

Blanca Ojeda, a Merced advocate with the nonprofit Faith in the Valley, blasted the rail authority for its attempt to change the area\u2019s station location.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not simply a change in location,\u201d Ojeda said during public comment. \u201cIt is a change in the vision, the economic opportunity and the level of investment Merced was promised.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added SB 198 clearly mandates that Merced\u2019s high-speed rail station be built downtown and have connections to the Altamont Corridor Express and Amtrak Gold Runner train services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen did it become acceptable to design a project around changing the law instead of following the law that already exists?\u201d Ojeda said. \u201cWhere is the accountability to the people of the Central Valley?\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Erik Galicia<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Erik is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, where he helped launch an effort to better meet the news needs of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Before that, he served as editor-in-chief of his community college student newspaper, Riverside City College Viewpoints, where he covered the impacts of the Salton Sea\u2019s decline on its adjacent farm worker communities in the Southern California desert.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Merced officials and activists say the California High-Speed Rail Authority has so far failed to face residents and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-437977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}