AB 1855: California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: passenger rail service.

This bill would expand the exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for passenger rail service projects. Currently, projects must be exclusively used by zero-emission trains or certified Tier 4 or cleaner rolling stock to qualify for the exemption. The bill would eliminate this condition, allowing projects that use non-zero-emission trains to qualify if they provide daily passenger rail service between termini more than 5 miles apart where none exists. The bill would also change the location requirement for the exemption, allowing the mainline rail of the project to be located within an existing right-of-way or highway right-of-way, rather than the entire project. Additionally, the bill would prohibit projects from being eligible for the exemption if they are located in certain air quality zones.