"High-Speed Railway Proposal Gets Lukewarm Reception from California Airport"

Thursday, June 27, 2002

High-Speed Railway Proposal Gets Lukewarm Reception from California
Airport
The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.


LOMA LINDA, Calif.--A proposal for a high speed railway that would whisk
Orange County travelers to Ontario International Airport got a tepid
reception Wednesday from the board of the San Bernardino International
Airport.

The idea of"Airports without Runways"is essentially a series of stations
for a high speed rail system. Each station would act as an airport where
passengers could buy tickets, check their baggage and then board a train
to Ontario International where passengers would board their planes.

The concept is being pitched to city councils and airport authorities as
a way to spread Southern California's growing airline passenger loads to
outlying airports. The idea is being championed by Peggy Ducey,
executive director of the Southern California Regional Airport
Authority, after Orange County voters rejected a proposed airport in El
Toro.

The proposed Orange County airport was supposed to handle 30 million
passengers a year by 2020, according to estimates by regional
transportation planners. Now that the airport has been rejected, those
future passengers will have to use Southern California's existing
airports.

"Orange County caused a ripple effect. The question now is: how as a
region are we going to meet future aviation demand?"said Ducey, who
admits that the concept is"pie in the sky"right now but may be a viable
alternative. The concept is already in use in Stuttgart, Germany where a
rail station connects the city with Frankfurt's airport 126 miles away,
Ducey said.

She did not present a cost for the project nor a timeframe.

Airport authority board members liked the concept, but they said the
idea was impractical.

"I've been behind high speed rail for years but getting funding is a
different story. We're talking billions of dollars,"said John Mitchell,
authority board member and Colton City Councilman.

San Bernardino Mayor Judith Valles called the idea"futuristic and a
worthy concept,"but said it wouldn't happen in the next 15 to 20 years.

"You have to start somewhere. You have to start with a plan,"Valles
said.


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