TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

As a structural engineer, longtime Bakersfield resident Ed Creswell is thrilled that America's first bullet trains will fly right through his city's downtown district.

"It's a great project," he said. "And I'm excited for our community."

But for Ed, his wife Judy and some of their neighbors there's also a downside: The 220-mph electric rail line is being routed right through his Rosedale-area neighborhood on an elevated track 30- to 40-feet off the ground. And that will affect property values and the quality of life in their horse-friendly tract.

"A lot of families have been out there 35 to 40 years or more," Creswell said. "They're not really anxious to move."

The Creswells were among dozens who showed up at the Red Lion Hotel in Bakersfield on Tuesday to attend a scoping meeting held by the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

Filled with a variety of large maps and exhibits, the meeting was designed to help members of the public learn more about the Bakersfield-to-Palmdale section of the 800-mile long system -- and allow them to ask questions and express concerns.

After so many years of talking about a futuristic rail system that could speed from Bakersfield to Los Angeles in just 54 minutes, many Californians have become skeptical that the $40 billion project will ever come to fruition, said Carrie L. Bowen, regional director for the Rail Authority.

"People want to know, is it real?" she said. "It's real."

"No one has done this before in the United States," Bowen said. "The jobs it's going to bring ... include an estimated 160,000 construction related jobs alone."

And those jobs will generate hotel stays, restaurant purchases, retail shopping and other spending that creates an "economic multiplier" effect on local communities.

That doesn't count the many technicians needed to help operate the "brains" of the system once it's built, plus the workers who must maintain the trains and the the track.

By mid-2012, the environmental reviews should be completed and the routes designated, rail authorities say.

"Construction should begin shortly thereafter," said Rail Authority Regional Manager Tom Tracy.

Probably the first big project will be a 100-mile test track, which will later be integrated into the larger rail system. And near the test track a heavy maintenance facility will be built to store, repair and maintain the trains.

This will mean thousands of the earliest jobs -- and counties from Kern to Merced will be vying to be home to the test track.

That's right, the test track will be built somewhere between Bakersfield and Merced.

"We are going to try to help this thing along any way we can. It means jobs," said John Spaulding of the Building Trades Council, a consortium of construction trade unions that could realize a job bonanza from the rail project.

Much preparation still needs to be done. Most of the route is already laid out, but in Bakersfield, for example, there are essentially two options being discussed.

To maximize safety and efficiency, nowhere will the trains interface with cars on surface streets. No train horns will blast. No bells will ring at crossings.

While there will be some noise associated with these rolling bullets, there will be no rattling, no clackety-clack of rail noise -- and the on-board ride will be so smooth, you won't spill your beer while walking back to your seat, Bowen said.