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On May 24, San Francisco and California both received federal grants for passenger rail service. Federal Railroad Administration awarded California High-Speed Rail Authority a $1.25 million grant to prepare environmental and technical studies for the proposed high-speed rail system; Federal Transit Administration awarded San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit a $75 million grant for its Airport Extension Project.



California regional teams plan to use the funds to analyze environmental issues such as noise and vibration, while additional work will be performed to help identify key engineering criteria to be used in defining high-speed rail’s environmental impact in Los Angeles-Orange County-San Diego, Sacramento-Bakersfield, Bakersfield-Los Angeles, Bay Area-Merced, and Los Angeles-Riverside-San Diego corridors.



Meanwhile, work progresses on BART’s 8.7-mile, four station extension to San Francisco International Airport. Officials there plan to use the grant to fund design and construction of the South San Francisco, San Bruno and Millbrae stations and parking structures, as well as line, trackwork and systems construction.



FTA entered its original $750 million Full Funding Grant Agreement in June 1997; the final incremental payment is expected in 2007. The project is scheduled for completion in December.