LOS ANGELES — The California High-Speed Rail Authority will provide more than $400 million for the project to improve Los Angeles Union Station, a project which will see through tracks for commuter and intercity rail operations created at the current stub-ended station in downtown L.A.
The authority’s board on Wednesday approved the agreement with LA Metro to provide $423.3 million for Phase A of the “Link Union Station” project, with the money coming from Proposition 1A funds approved by voters for the high speed rail system. In a press release, Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins called the agreement “a key funding milestone for the [high speed rail] bookend project here in Southern California.”
The project will include construction of a two-track viaduct over U.S. Highway 101 adjacent to the station, providing a mainline link to allow through north-south operations [see “Metrolink set to begin work on LA Union Station project,” Trains News Wire, May 1, 2020]. The initial work, modernizing the five-track throat into the station, is targeted for completion in 2023.
Had through tracks been built at Memphis Union Station for the benefit of Illinois Central passenger trains that ran in the north-south tangent, the marbled Beaux-Arts station would still stand. Instead, Memphis is left with a non-descript brick station two blocks west.
How much time will be saved by the completion of this project?
Easily 5 minutes.
Great Project! Should have done years ago, glad to see CaHSR money at work in the Southern California.