Final environmental report released for Burbank-to-LA high-speed rail line

Touting the move as bringing high-speed train service a step closer to Los Angeles, the California High-Speed Rail Authority released a final environmental impact report Friday for a planned 14-mile stretch of the project between Burbank and Los Angeles.

“While we advance construction in the Central Valley, we continue our march to environmentally clear all 500 miles between San Francisco and the Los Angeles/Anaheim area,” Authority CEO Brian Kelly said in a statement. “This Los Angeles rail corridor will connect the Hollywood Burbank Airport and Los Angeles Union Station — two key multimodal transportation hubs — providing future passengers clean, electrified high-speed rail infrastructure that will deliver sustainable, reliable and accessible transportation for generations to come.”

The environmental impact report is scheduled to go before the authority’s board of directors on Jan. 19-20, when it will consider approving the specific route for the rail segment.

The proposed route would use an existing rail corridor adjacent to the Los Angeles River through Burbank, Glendale and into Los Angeles.

In August, the authority approved plans for a stretch of the rail project between Bakersfield and Palmdale, the first segment to be OK’d in Southern California. Approval of the Burbank-to-Los Angeles segment in January would move the section “closer to being ‘shovel ready’ for when preconstruction and construction funding become available,” according to the authority.

The environmental impact report can be reviewed on the authority’s website at www.hsr.ca.gov. It can also be reviewed in Burbank at:

• Buena Vista Branch Library, 300 N. Buena Vista St.;
• Northwest Branch Library, 3323 W. Victory Blvd; and
• Burbank Central Library, 110 N. Glenoaks Blvd.

In Glendale, it is available at:

• Grandview Library, 1535 Fifth St.;
• Pacific Park and Community Center, 501 S. Pacific Ave.; and
• Glendale Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St.

In Los Angeles, it is available at:

• Atwater Village Branch Library, 3379 Glendale Blvd;
• Chinatown Branch Library, 639 N. Hill St.;
• Cypress Park Branch Library, 1150 Cypress Ave.;
• Lincoln Heights Branch Library, 2530 Workman St.; and
• Little Tokyo Branch Library, 203 S. Los Angeles St.

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