This graphic from March 2011 shows the current planning between Sylmar in the north San Fernando Valley and Palmdale, a distance of about 50 miles. Original planning assumed 13 miles of tunneling on this segment. Recent engineering work has raised this now to a possible 28 miles of tunneling. It is largely due to the increased projected costs between Sylmar and Palmdale that has the Authority looking at bypassing it for the I-5 to save money and running times. Some of the problems with bypassing Palmdale include the fact that Palmdale is listed on the route in Prop 1A Ballot measure, Palmdale and northern Los Angeles County wants the HSR trains there and the Tejon Ranch Company which owns the land where an I-5 Grapevine alignment would run has no great desire for the trains to run through their property. July 25, 2011