The California High-Speed Rail Authority has finalized its environmental review for the Los Angeles-to-Anaheim segment, the last stretch of the system’s first phase, locking in a plan that keeps high-speed trains sharing tracks with Amtrak and Metrolink rather than building separate dedicated lines through some of Southern California’s busiest rail corridors.
The roughly 30-mile corridor’s recommended approach, called Shared Passenger Track Alternative A, would route bullet trains alongside existing passenger service between Los Angeles Union Station and the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, according to a report from Urbanize LA. The plan calls for approximately 30 miles of new and upgraded track along with overhead contact systems, maintenance infrastructure, and traction power facilities, according to the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which identified the alternative as its preferred option under federal environmental law and the proposed project under the state’s own review process.
Eight existing grade crossings in Anaheim will remain at street level rather than being separated from the corridor, a decision the authority’s own environmental documentation ties directly to minimizing both environmental impacts and cost. The agency’s final environmental document also weighed building a light-maintenance facility at either 26th Street in Vernon or 15th Street in Los Angeles alongside the decision to leave those Anaheim crossings alone, per the authority’s standard-responses filing. Despite that, the corridor is still slated to get full grade separations at Pioneer Boulevard, Norwalk Boulevard, Los Nietos Road, Cerritos Avenue, and State College Boulevard, according to Urbanize LA’s report.
Stops and Stations Left Out of the Final Plan
The final report omits intermediate stops at Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs and Fullerton, a change from earlier planning stages, per Urbanize LA’s reporting. Those intermediate stops were reportedly at risk of being dropped because of cost concerns as far back as 2025, and the project separately requires modifications to passenger rail stops in Commerce, Buena Park, Fullerton, and Norwalk, according to the same report. Project cost has also been blamed for the cancellation of a proposed BNSF rail yard in Colton, Urbanize LA reported, tying together several of the budget-driven changes that have reshaped the corridor’s footprint…