Judge dismisses high-speed rail case

From the Mercury News:

Nearly five years after Peninsula cities first sued to block California's high-speed train from running along the Caltrain corridor, a judge has dismissed the case in a long-awaited victory for bullet train backers.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny's ruling, released Thursday, means that the state finally proved it was legally correct in December 2007 when it decided to send its planned $69 billion high-speed rail network up the Pacheco Pass from the Central Valley, zipping bullet trains from San Jose to San Francisco. An alternative plan that environmentalists and some Peninsula cities preferred would have sent the trains up a longer East Bay route through the Altamont Pass.

Officials of the California High-Speed Rail Authority breathed a sigh of relief as they head toward a groundbreaking on the controversial project in the Central Valley as soon as July.