Will California get a high-speed rail plan based on sound engineering and economics? Or will trains be routed to a dairy farm 7 miles outside Los Banos? That is the question the MTC seeks to answer in its Regional Rail Plan. Some background: when the California High-Speed Rail Commission released its Draft EIR, it inexplicably dropped the Altamont/I580 alignment from consideration. Instead, trains would enter the Bay Area from the Central Valley through a remote area out by Los Banos (along the “Pacheco” alignment). The EBBC joined East Bay political leaders, and numerous environmental groups to ask that the Altamont alignment be reconsidered in the EIR process. You can read EBBC comments on pages 2-3 of the original EIR. A more detailed map of alignments is shown here. 
The Altamont alignment is considered to offer a number of advantages. It provides much faster service to Sacramento, Stockton, and the Tri-Valley cities of Livermore, Tracy, and Pleasonton. By contrast, the Pacheco route is not time-competitive for these cities (at 1hr 20min, a trip between the San Francisco and Sacramento would be almost as slow as today’s Amtrak Capitol Corridor service). Both alignments involve environmental impacts. The Altamont route would cross the Bay near the old Dumbarton rail bridge, and the Pacheco route would intrude on wetlands and wilderness areas. The Pacheco route would also create a massive amount of “leap-frog” sprawl south of Silicon Valley. Most importantly, the Altamont HSR alignment is at least $4 billion less expensive than Pacheco, because it obviates the need for a costly BART extension to San Jose. 
While we prevailed in getting Altamont reconsidered in the EIR, the MTC was unfortunately given responsibility for studying the issue. It is no surprise that their report lends some support to the Pacheco alignment. Check the EBBC Events Calendar for upcoming public hearings on plans for the Los Banos Dairy Farm Express. Further reading:
