I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4477 

To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to make grants for engineering, 

final design, and construction of the Altamont Corridor Rail Project, 

California, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 10, 2014 

Mr. MCNERNEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to make grants 

for engineering, final design, and construction of the 

Altamont Corridor Rail Project, California, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Altamont Corridor Rail 

5 Improvement Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

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1 (1) The Altamont Rail Corridor serves a North2 ern California megaregion with a projected popu3 lation of 18,000,000 by 2025. 

4 (2) The Altamont Rail Corridor is the primary 

5 gateway between the Central Valley of California 

6 and the San Francisco Bay Area and parallels two 

7 of the most congested highway corridors in the re8 gion. 

9 (3) The Metropolitan Transportation Commis10 sion completed a final report of the Bay Area Re11 gional Rail Plan in 2007 that called for a dedicated 

12 regional rail line that would provide both intercity 

13 and commuter passenger rail service to improve 

14 connectivity and accessibility between the Northern 

15 San Joaquin Valley population centers and the Bay 

16 Area. 

17 (4) The California High Speed Rail Authority 

18 has identified the Altamont Rail Corridor as a crit19 ical element to regional transportation needs and en20 tered into partnership with the major governing and 

21 operating entities in the corridor to improve the re22 gional ACE service in the near term and develop ca23 pability for joint use to accommodate intercity and 

24 commuter service as well as interface with the high25 speed rail system in the future. 

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1 (5) The Bay Area Regional Rail Plan projects 

2 that the ACE train that currently provides pas3 senger rail service in the Altamont Rail Corridor will 

4 average 49,000 daily boardings by 2050. 

5 (6) The current situation of sharing Altamont 

6 Rail Corridor passenger service with the growing 

7 freight operations in the existing alignment will se8 verely limit opportunity for service improvement or 

9 expansion as critically needed. 

10 (7) The expansion and improvement of pas11 senger rail service in the Altamont Rail Corridor will 

12 have significant environmental and economic devel13 opment benefits for the region. 

14 SEC. 3. PROJECT AUTHORIZATION FOR NEW FIXED GUIDE 

15 WAY CAPITAL PROJECT. 

16 (a) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—The Secretary of 

17 Transportation is authorized to allocate, out of funds 

18 made available under section 5309(m) of title 49, United 

19 States Code, a total amount not to exceed $450,000,000 

20 for the period encompassing fiscal years 2015 through 

21 2024 to carry out any remaining preliminary engineering 

22 and final design and construction of the Altamont Cor23 ridor Rail Project. 

24 (b) USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTS.—Any al25 ternatives analysis or environmental impact report relatmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 ing to the Altamont Corridor Rail Project that is prepared 

2 to comply with the requirements for capital assistance 

3 from the Federal Railroad Administration (including doc4 uments prepared before the date of enactment of this Act) 

5 may be used to satisfy the requirements for grant assist6 ance under section 5309 of title 49, United States Code. 

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