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‘Bullet train’ opponents want an amended route

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Bullet Train (269427)
Bullet Train

The Los Angeles city councilwoman who represents the Sun Valley area introduced a resolution this week opposing a proposed bullet train route through her district unless the plan is amended to be underground in the area.

The proposed route, which still needs to be approved by the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s board, calls for the 38-mile Burbank-to-Palmdale section of the train line to include 24 miles underground and a portion in the Sun Valley area above ground.

The Sun Valley community “already faces several environmental issues including landfills, auto dismantling yards, and heavy industrial uses abutting residential neighborhoods’’ according to the resolution introduced by Councilwoman Nury Martinez.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said last month that he is “not yet’’ in support of the proposed route, but did say he hopes a tunnel or trench will still be considered for the San Fernando Valley above-ground portion.

In a webcast last month where the route was announced as the preferred one among three being considered, Michelle Boehm, the rail authority’s Southern California regional director, said it “trikes the best balance’’ while considering safety, cost and the impact on communities and the environment.

The $77 billion Los Angeles-to-San Francisco portion of the train project has an estimated completion date of 2033, but there is no funding in place yet to build the Southern California portion while work is currently underway on the Central Valley portion.

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