Representatives have indicated that they would choose a stop between sites either in San Fernando or Slymar, or in Burbank, rather than placing two stops in the valley, officials said.
The rail system, capable of shuttling passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 2 hours and 38 minutes, is planned to be completed by 2020, with as many as 10 trains per hour moving through the urban area at speeds as high as 150 mph.
Authority engineers have considered 14 station options in the San Fernando Valley so far and have continued to adjust their analysis report based on feedback from cities, residents and other stakeholders along the route, said Sara Costin, director of Consensus Inc., which is conducting community public outreach for the authority.
“All of those things go into determining where it may be best to put a station,” Costin said. “So we’re working with the local corridor cities to figure out where a station would be best to be located in the San Fernando Valley.”
Rail representatives expected to deliver a report on the local route to the authority early this year and again this month, but have delayed the presentation until July, at the earliest, Costin said.
The new options could mean that Burbank may not have a stop at all, a change that city officials may not consider a major loss because of the accompanying traffic and infrastructural impacts associated with adding another transportation hub to the area, Kriske said.
“I think its probably still mixed,” Kriske said. “I think there’s probably still some sentiment to question whether we want it at all even with the airport still being an option.”
In Glendale, the latest options would leave a planned station further from the city than initially expected, a development that may not be all bad, Baghdanian said.
Airport officials, who questioned initial plans to have a station disconnected from the airport, were supportive of the new proposal, spokesman Victor Gill said.
“It made the most sense to us,” Gill said.
