Less than five months after a report suddenly awakened Mercedians out of a dream that high speed rail in town was a sure thing and on its way as part of the state’s initial operating segment, there is now another new reality check to consider:
The train might arrive on time, but not to a Downtown Merced Station as originally planned.
Instead, how about relocating the proposed station 4 miles to the southeast, in a vicinity that’s west of Highway 99 and south of Mission, just outside the current city limits, but close to the Campus Parkway route to UC Merced and future city growth areas?
This week, the Merced City Council and the Board of Supervisors received updates on a new plan for a Merced station from Peter Whippy, chief of external affairs for the California High-Speed Rail Authority. He said a move to the southeast location would save about $1 billion and three years of construction time — not to mention the agony of tearing up prime real estate between 15th and 16th streets in the heart of the city. The beloved Merced Senior Center and the McCombs Youth Center would be spared, as well as popular joints like In-N-Out Burger at MLK Jr. Way, and a potential Chick Fil A across the street.
Time is of the essence, Whippy indicated. In order for things to move forward, the new “conceptual” plan must be contained and approved in the 2026 High Speed Rail Business Plan. The draft document is due to be released in February and adopted by May.
Local leaders appeared to be relieved and hopeful that Merced remains in the conversation for the HSR startup process, while expressing concern that there continues to be local leverage and transparency in negotiations.
At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, the phrase “having a seat at the table” was repeated multiple times by county leaders. No formal vote was taken after the HSR update, but all five board members expressed support to have a relocation “conversation” with the state’s HSR Authority and maintain a “seat at the table.” There was also an acknowledgement that the new conceptual plan involves a site in an unincorporated area, and that the plan “would likely be included” in the upcoming HSR Business Plan.
At City Hall on Monday, Council members expressed general support for considering the relocation idea, but there were strong statements made for further analysis of plan details, as well as the need for community input on the issue.
The Council voted 5-2 in favor of having their transportation subcommittee work with city staff and county partners to gather more information about the relocation, and report back within at least 45 days, or as soon as the council’s second meeting in February. The report would focus on city services required for the new site, such as water, sewer, refuse, fire, and police. Other topics include infrastructure needs, station design, construction timeline, environmental clearance, public outreach, and an evaluation of lost investment opportunities (mitigation) in Downtown Merced.
Mayor Pro Tem Sarah Boyle and Councilman Fue Xiong voted NO after the motion. Boyle expressed support for an immediate vote on relocation, while Xiong was adamant about partnering with the HSR Authority to coordinate more public town halls specifically related to the HSR updates.
Several members of the public spoke up during the meeting, and a majority expressed the desire for more information.
Marilyn Sobel, a local community activist, had questions about the role UC Merced would play in the new plans, and how everyday residents would be able to access a station in southeast Merced via public transportation.
“If we’re talking about making the high speed line viable, surely we want to situate it in a place where we already know a lot of people are going to be, and a lot of people are going to come,” she said. “If we are putting it far outside of town, we have to find a way to deliver people to that station. And if we’re unsuccessful in doing it, then ridership is going to be small.”
(A quick look at Google Maps shows that the distance between the proposed Downtown Station and UC Merced is roughly the same as the distance between the newly proposed southeast site and the university — about 7.5 miles, and a 15 minute car ride in normal traffic.)
Sobel also added a question: “Why did it take 15 years to suddenly notice that it’s a bad idea to have the station in downtown Merced? Like, didn’t we figure this out before now? I mean, why did we not object in the first place to having to inconvenience businesses?”
Real estate developer Eric Hamm pointed out that not long ago the City Council was listing the downtown station as a top priority. “Coordinate High Speed Rail, Ace Train, and other projects that may serve as economic engines for Downtown Merced,” Hamm read from a paper, and then added: “Your New Year’s resolution is hanging by a thread right now.”
Gloria Valdovinos, the executive director of the Downtown Merced Partnership, defended the existing site plan. “If the station is built downtown, every visitor stepping off that train is connected to our restaurants, our small businesses, our hotels, our cultural spaces, and our streets. That creates ongoing, long term investment, where Merced already has infrastructure and identity. If the station is moved to southeast Merced, we may get a faster build, but we also get a station that is separated from our city center by distance, parking, and major roads. That makes it harder for visitors and riders to naturally flow into downtown and experience what Merced has to offer. We will live with this decision for decades. The state will finish construction and move on, but Merced will be left with whatever pattern of growth we choose today.”
The development of High Speed Rail in California dates back all the way to 1994, with the Authority forming in 1996. Years went by until voters in 2008 approved Prop. 1A that provided financing with $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds. The measure mandated that a station would be in Merced connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco through the Central Valley. In 2022, Senate Bill 198 specifically directed the HSR Authority to prioritize completing the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment with a designated and combined downtown rail station. (So a subsequent relocation of the Merced station would require approval from the State Legislature.)
Over the past few years, several town hall meetings have been held to discuss details of a Downtown Merced Station, as well as a transportation hub that also involves the ACE Train and Amtrak lines coming into town from the north. Last year, on Aug. 22, the Authority released the 2025 Supplemental Project Update Report which suggested the Merced station be “re-sequenced” and favored a more direct route from Madera to Gilroy.
After city and county officials got wind of the new report, an intense lobbying effort began to persuade the Authority to keep Merced in the startup plan. It started with local officials speaking out during an Authority board meeting in Sacramento on Aug. 28. Subsequently, six meetings have been held with HSR board members and local officials. Merced County Supervisor Josh Pedrozo has been highlighted as a key representative from the county board, and Mayor Matt Serratto, Mayor Pro Tem Boyle, and Councilman Shane Smith have been highly involved as members of a city transportation subcommittee.
At Monday’s Council meeting, the mayor downplayed the possibility of the ACE Train and Amtrak connecting to a Merced HSR station — a significant contrast to positive communication about the projects from local transportation agencies in the past few years.
“The elephant in the room is the status of the ACE and the Amtrak projects,” Mayor Serratto said. “Those are way, way behind schedule, underfunded. So the initial kind of dream of having a joint station for all three systems downtown is essentially out of the question right now.”
California has invested roughly $13 to $15 billion in the High-Speed Rail project so far, supporting the initial Central Valley segment and creating thousands of jobs, while facing significant cost overruns, delays, and a recent termination of $4 billion in federal funds. The total cost for Phase 1 (SF to LA) is now projected between $89 billion and over $130 billion, with the Merced-Bakersfield section alone estimated at over $30 billion.
Merced City Councilman Mike Harris summed up this week’s meeting by saying, “We’ve got so many unanswered questions. I can’t see doing anything but analysis. We’ve gone from, ‘We’re putting a station downtown and oh my God, what are we gonna do with Costco?’ …. to ‘We’re not getting anything. We’re out of the loop completely, and we’re gonna get bypassed,” …. to ‘We’re back in the loop, but we’re looking at a different station.’ … All this came upon us fairly quickly. … There’s just too many unanswered questions now, and too many options to vote on to support or oppose right now.”