Wilson Relents, Revives High-Speed Train Panel

The planned super-speed train between Anaheim and Las Vegas is back on track.

Well, maybe.

In a change of heart, Gov. Pete Wilson on Wednesday resurrected the California-Nevada Super Speed Ground Transportation Commission, which suffered a power failure last year when California didn’t renew its membership.

Wilson, who last fall vetoed a bill by Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove) that would have extended California’s participation past Dec. 31, 1991, signed a new extension authored by Umberg that expires July 1, 1993.

The commission is charged with planning a privately funded, 270-m.p.h high-speed rail line between Anaheim and Las Vegas that critics have dubbed a “gambler’s special.”

In his veto message last year, Wilson complained that the project had failed to make much progress and would serve too few Californians compared to other opportunities for high-speed rail. But Umberg argued successfully that Wilson’s staff misunderstood the privatized nature of the project and the boost to tourism and the economy that it might provide.

“I feel very good about it,” Umberg said. “. . . With the defense industry shrinking, it’s a great way to use high technology.”

“I’m itching to get back to work on this,” Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth said through a spokesman. A member and former chairman of the commission, Roth added: “It offers great opportunities for transportation solutions.”

But, given current economic uncertainties in the United States and overseas, no firm is expected to bid for the right to finance and build the $5-billion project for months, if not years.

Nevada members have kept the commission in business since January without taking any significant actions. The commission hopes to tap into newly available federal funds earmarked for development of magnetically levitated rail systems. The panel’s next meeting is scheduled for May 15 in Las Vegas.

A partnership involving Bechtel Corp. and Transrapid of Germany was awarded a conditional franchise to build and operate the magnetically levitated and propelled rail system. But Bechtel withdrew late last year after Japanese investors backed out.