Rail authority approves advancing $77 billion bullet train project to Bakersfield

The California High-Speed Rail Authority announced that its board of directors certified the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Report for the Fresno to Bakersfield Project Section and approved a high-speed rail alignment between Poplar Avenue in Kern County and the F St. station location in downtown Bakersfield.

The board voted unanimously to certify the document under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), approve the project and alignment between Poplar Avenue in Kern County and the F St. station location in downtown Bakersfield and adopt documents required under CEQA.

The Final Supplemental EIR evaluates what is known as the Locally Generated Alternative, which extends from Shafter east towards State Route 99 and the existing Union Pacific Railroad tracks, then southward into Bakersfield, ending at a station location on F Street in downtown Bakersfield. The document then compares the Locally Generated Alternative to the alignment in the area previously studied in 2014.

In the next step, the Federal Railroad Administration would issue a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Final Supplemental EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and then would consider approving the project and issuing a Record of Decision under NEPA.