Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Altamont Corridor Rail Improvement Act of 2014”.
Altamont Corridor Rail Improvement Act of 2014
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to make grants for engineering, final design, and construction of the Altamont Corridor Rail Project, California, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
The Altamont Rail Corridor serves a Northern California megaregion with a projected population of 18,000,000 by 2025.
The Altamont Rail Corridor is the primary gateway between the Central Valley of California and the San Francisco Bay Area and parallels two of the most congested highway corridors in the region.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission completed a final report of the Bay Area Regional Rail Plan in 2007 that called for a dedicated regional rail line that would provide both intercity and commuter passenger rail service to improve connectivity and accessibility between the Northern San Joaquin Valley population centers and the Bay Area.
The California High Speed Rail Authority has identified the Altamont Rail Corridor as a critical element to regional transportation needs and entered into partnership with the major governing and operating entities in the corridor to improve the regional ACE service in the near term and develop capability for joint use to accommodate intercity and commuter service as well as interface with the high-speed rail system in the future.
The Bay Area Regional Rail Plan projects that the ACE train that currently provides passenger rail service in the Altamont Rail Corridor will average 49,000 daily boardings by 2050.
The current situation of sharing Altamont Rail Corridor passenger service with the growing freight operations in the existing alignment will severely limit opportunity for service improvement or expansion as critically needed.
The expansion and improvement of passenger rail service in the Altamont Rail Corridor will have significant environmental and economic development benefits for the region.
Sec. 3 Project authorization for new fixed guide way capital project
Allocation of funds— The Secretary of Transportation is authorized to allocate, out of funds made available under section 5309(m) of title 49, United States Code, a total amount not to exceed $450,000,000 for the period encompassing fiscal years 2015 through 2024 to carry out any remaining preliminary engineering and final design and construction of the Altamont Corridor Rail Project.
Use of environmental documents— Any alternatives analysis or environmental impact report relating to the Altamont Corridor Rail Project that is prepared to comply with the requirements for capital assistance from the Federal Railroad Administration (including documents prepared before the date of enactment of this Act) may be used to satisfy the requirements for grant assistance under section 5309 of title 49, United States Code.