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A Sacramento judge likely will deny a request by Atherton and Menlo Park to reopen a lawsuit that would have bullet train planners reexamine whether to route trains through the East Bay rather than the Peninsula.

In a tentative ruling Thursday, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny said he intends to deny the cities’ request.

Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Friday - at which time the judge likely will issue a final ruling.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority, charged with planning a 800-mile system that can zip riders between the Bay Area and Los Angeles in less than three hours, said it was cheered by the ruling.

“We’re happy that the court has tentatively ruled that the petition fails to meet the standard for reopening a final judgment,” authority chief executive Roelof van Ark said in a statement. “The authority has been committed to transparency in carrying out its environmental analysis and we will continue to work with and gather feedback from residents of the Peninsula and other interested groups.”

A lawyer for the cities, Stuart Flashman, was not immediately available for comment guaranteed payday loans.

The cities, along with transportation and environmental groups, sought to have Kenny reconsider his 2009 ruling on a previous lawsuit. The plaintiffs suggest that the bullet-train route run south from San Francisco along the Peninsula to Redwood City before turning east over the Dumbarton Bridge to the East Bay.

That route, which would add seven miles to the overall route, would still be attractive to riders and come with fewer environmental impacts, the plaintiffs said.

In arguing the 2009 ruling should be reconsidered, the cities said bullet train planners’ ridership projections are “obviously and fatally flawed” and planners should be ordered to consider new studies of an East Bay route before it finalizes environmental studies along the Peninsula.

Flashman, in a previous interview, said it is rare for the courts to void previous decisions. But Flashman said the bullet train ridership modeling data is so crucial to the authority’s environmental reports that it could persuade the judge.

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