Buena Park Mayor Art Brown said he’s delighted the California High-Speed Rail Authority has decided to revisit the issue of whether the town’s train station has to be torn down to make way for high-speed rail tracks.
And he’s ready to fight if a new study goes the other way.
“I am extremely happy to see that the commission decided to study the alternatives,” said Brown, referring to a vote Thursday by the authority’s board to again consider the once-rejected idea of high-speed trains sharing existing track with commuter lines between Anaheim and Los Angeles.
As things stand now, the Buena Park station would be torn down when the high-speed tracks are built.
But, as Voice of OC reported this week, Anaheim Mayor and Rail Authority chairman Curt Pringle put the issue of revisiting the shared tracks idea on the Thursday agenda.
Pringle acted after receiving a letter from Arthur T. Leahy, chief executive of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Will Kempton, chief executive of the Orange County Transportation Authority asking the agency to reconsider shared lines, rather than the present plan to create lines solely dedicated to high-speed rail.
A dedicated line requires the removal of hundreds of homes along the route, including possibly tearing down the Buena Park train station.
The Los Angeles Times reported today that the rail authority, meeting in San Jose, voted to update a study on using shared track between Anaheim and Los Angeles.
“We see no reason why it would not work,” said Brown of the possibility of a shared track in Buena Park, adding it only should take a short time to complete the study.
And if the study concludes that the Buena Park station still must be torn down? “We will fight them all the way,” Brown said.