Fresno could finally land main high-speed rail maintenance site. It’d bring a lot of jobs
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Two finalist sites are south Fresno and an alternative outside Hanford.
- Further environmental studies needed, but they will conclude next year.
- Fresno EDC expects hundreds of direct jobs in phase one and thousands over time.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority has whittled down a list of potential sites for its biggest maintenance facility to two options: A 300-acre space between highways 99 and 41 in south Fresno and an alternative just outside Hanford.
Known as the Heavy Maintenance Facility, the operation is expected to generate a large amount of permanent, specialized jobs. Though multiple types of maintenance facilities are planned, there will be only one heavy maintenance facility on the entire 500-mile Los Angeles-to-San Francisco segment.
LaDonna DiCamillo, the rail authority’s interim planning director, said during Monday’s board meeting that further environmental studies are needed, which will wrap up by next year. If no problems arise, California’s fifth-largest city is the natural choice, said Henry Perea, a rail authority board member from Fresno.
“Fresno has always been the perfect location,” Perea told The Bee. “We’re right in the center of the Valley.”
The rail authority had a list of 11 potential facility sites between Merced and Bakersfield. DiCamillo said Monday that most have been eliminated because they are fully located in flood plains or would require too much extra track construction, among other reasons.
Similar to much else in the rail project, a final decision on the facility’s location has dragged on for years. Communities across the San Joaquin Valley competed to host the operation in the previous decade and expected a decision years ago.
‘Hundreds of direct jobs’ and available Fresno workforce
Will Oliver, CEO of the Fresno County Economic Development Corporation, said in a statement to The Fresno Bee that the facility would serve as “a major center” for maintenance, inspections, repairs, fleet support, testing and acceptance of train sets. That means it should become active “well before” full passenger service begins, he added.
The number of jobs the facility generates will depend on its design and operations plan. But Oliver expects it could support “hundreds of direct jobs in phase one.” It could also help generate “thousands of jobs over time” through suppliers, contractors and other rail-related activities, he added.
Oliver said Fresno WORKS — a coalition of elected officials, unions and industry leaders — has spent more than a decade preparing for the arrival of high-speed rail. That work included planning for the potential maintenance facility.
Chuck Riojas, executive secretary-treasurer of the Fresno-Madera-Tulare-Kings Building Trades Council, said Fresno County has the workforce to operate the facility.
“We have a million people,” he said. “Nothing against Hanford, but we do have the residents to draw from here.”
Riojas, who runs two pre-apprenticeship programs at the rail authority’s training center in Selma, said he’s toured heavy maintenance facilities in European countries. He said there are rail-related career pathways in those countries that begin in high school.
“It’s phenomenal,” Riojas said. “I could see the same thing happening here.”
