TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Initial construction of California high-speed rail must extend to Bakersfield if the project is to qualify for $616 million in federal money announced this week, a U.S. Department of Transportation spokesman confirmed Friday.

If the federal funding requirement meets with certain approvals in Sacramento, it would likely bring thousands of new construction jobs to Kern County. It could also quell criticism that the project's 65-mile first leg, proposed to link the small communities of Corcoran and Borden, amounts to a "train to nowhere."

Friday's clarification delighted the Kern County team that had complained about the $4.15 billion route selected last week over competing proposals that would have connected Bakersfield and Fresno or Fresno and Merced.

"What we wanted, because of our high unemployment rate, was to have some of this come to Kern County to help create some jobs right now while we need them," county administrative analyst Teresa Hitchcock said. "This is a good thing for the county."

It remains to be seen just how far into Bakersfield the initial route would reach once construction begins in September 2012.

A spokeswoman for the California High-Speed Rail Authority said engineers were trying to determine how far south the new money -- $1.2 billion when combined with matching state bond money -- would allow work to proceed.

"We're looking at how ... far that will extend construction southward," authority spokeswoman Rachel Wall said. "We don't have that yet."

The new money -- all of it economic stimulus funding turned away by Ohio and Wisconsin -- also raises new funding questions, in that the state Legislature would have to decide in fiscal 2011-12 whether to give bond money to the rail authority. Some state lawmakers recently have been highly critical of the rail authority, saying it has not presented a credible financial plan.

The rail authority spokeswoman downplayed how much effect the federal funding award would have in countering criticism of the project. She said the intention of the first leg was never to link two cities but to construct a backbone upon which further development could be built.

"It's just another step," Wall said. "We cannot get to Los Angeles without going to Bakersfield."

"Certainly this is great news and it's another vote of confidence that our project is on track."

The office of Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, issued a statement welcoming the new federal dollars to a project expected to link Los Angeles and the Bay Area with trains capable of 220 mph by 2020.

"Extending the Fresno segment towards another major city is another step forward for the state's 800-mile project," Costa's office wrote. "In construction terms, it also means more jobs and economic activity for this region of the Valley."

"With additional funds in hand, the Authority must look for ways to improve the project, including impacts on critical industries like agriculture."

The last part of that statement referred to an environmental review expected to be released for public scrutiny next month. Farmers in Kern County and elsewhere have expressed worries that the rail project would claim too much of their crop land.