The Federal Railroad Administration this week released $235 million in ARRA (i.e. the “stimulus”) funds for high speed rail planning, and California received $194 million – or 82.5% of the total – for engineering and planning work on our SF to Anaheim project. Here’s an excerpt from the press release the California High Speed Rail Authority sent out announcing the grant:

“This funding award demonstrates again the continued confidence the federal government has in California and the progress we’re making in planning our state’s high-speed rail project,” said Curt Pringle, Chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. “This will give California’s system the funds we need to complete the environmental review and bring us closer to realizing the enormous opportunity this project represents for our state.”

It may not be construction funds, but nearly $200 million in money to help pave the way for HSR construction is a pretty big deal for the project, a strong vote of confidence from the federal government for California’s ongoing work to plan and ultimately build the HSR system.

At least one writer sees this as being very significant for California’s future:

It will not increase California’s gross state product over the next 12 months. Nor will it create 100,000 – or 10,000 or even as few as 1,000 – new jobs by this time next year.

Yet, of all the federal stimulus grants and awards California has received to date, none will contribute more to the state’s long-term economic growth than the $194 million it received yesterday to chug ahead with what state officials hope will be the nation’s first full blown high speed rail system….

California is the world’s eighth largest economy. It should have a world class transportation network, including a modern high speed rail system.

Perkins recounted the hundreds of thousands of jobs the project will create, the savings from reduced carbon emissions and reduced oil consumption, and the economic activity enabled by fast passenger rail service as the reasons why the HSR project is so important to our state’s economic recovery. And he is right, of course. It’s good to see someone in the state media make that point so strongly and clearly.

California cannot afford to delay or even refuse to build the HSR project. To do so would ensure a prolonged recession as the state shackles itself to its cars and to dependence on ever-rising oil prices. Just as the railroads brought a boom to California in the late 19th century, and just as the interstates and aqueducts brought prosperity in the second half of the 20th century, high speed rail will provide part of the base for 21st century prosperity.

Keep that in mind when those who are already prosperous try to argue against building this project. They believe they can and should undermine everyone else’s prosperity in order to protect their own – even though HSR will boost property values all along the proposed route and generate new jobs and economic activity that even a NIMBY will find economically beneficial.