Posted on 12/23/2011 10:37:50 PM PST by Steelfish
High-Speed Rail Project in California Under Scrutiny By William Lajeunesse December 23, 2011
The Obama administration's plans for a bullet train could be headed off the tracks in California, the one state where its high-speed rail initiative is still alive.
Since the project was first unveiled in 2008, officials tripled its projected cost, delayed its start of service 13 years, downsized ridership projections and increased ticket prices. Almost two-thirds of Californians now say they'd vote against issuing bonds to pay for a project they narrowly approved just three years ago.
"It is not viable. It is not the best use of tax dollars, especially when you're borrowing the money to do it," said California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who originally supported the project as a member of the state legislature. McCarthy, the House majority whip, is among 12 Republicans asking for a federal audit into the assumptions and potentially misleading claims used to sell the California bullet train to voters. Their questions cover the following concerns:
-- Ridership projections. Rail proponents claimed more people would ride the Los Angeles to San Francisco train than all Americans who currently use Amtrak. Critics say those figures were highly inflated. While state highways are congested, a bullet train traveling that far with virtually no stops will not drive people out of their cars, they say.
-- Cost. Originally, voters were told the project would cost $33 billion, with state government, federal government and private enterprise sharing the cost roughly equally. New projections put the price tag at $98 billion, with no accurate assessment of how much each entity would pay.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
It will take a miracle to kill this thing permanently. They’ve been nudging this along for ten plus years. Democrats are patient with big picture stuff.
union jobs
Lunacy!
The state and federal governments are both underwater in debt. Putting that aside (how do you put that aside?), how much highway maintenance does 98 billion buy?!? Cali infrastructure is already falling apart in many areas and they’re worrying about a 98 billion bullet train to Frisco?
And what’s with the cost? I sincerely cannot believe that a 10-12 lane superhighway covering the same ground would cost that much even at todays union rates, and travelers/truckers can stop at all destinations along the way thereby IMPROVING COMMERCE.
The real answer is to widen and improve I-5 and fix the tooth-jarring disaster that is Hwy 10.
Get a solid high-speed bypass around LA that lets traffic run unhindered from Phoenix all the way to Seattle. THAT is how you fix travel and improve commerce in the west.
No one in California wants a train that no one alive now will ever ride.
Its a nice fantasy but its economically unviable and will never replace the car and plane in California.
I don’t see it being built.
This is very tough to kill.
Gov. Rick Scott killed this in Florida and is still taking heat from the Democrats for it. They wont let it die.
Its dead in FL and a tough sell in a an economy teetering on depression.
IF they can find private money for it, it could be revived. Right now, that’s a tall order.
Yes, it is union jobs and liberal state lunacy.
There is no money for this project — state or federal.
The state does not need it, but the libs want the overpriced jobs for votes, as usual.
It would go about like the “BIG DIG” in Boston went. So many times over original estimated cost (a known lie to begin with) — and just to keep the state unions working.
It is about power and control, as usual, and nothing else.
“..No one in California wants a train that no one alive now will ever ride..”
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Yes, just like BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and AMTRAK to name two. Both vastly underutilized and FUNDED BY THE TAXPAYER, NOT THE USER.
Just more liberal sickness — tax, borrow, spend, debt.....
Liberals are fascinated by a nineteenth century transportation technology that’s about as exciting and practical for the 21st Century as the horse buggy and whip.
At least those serve highly populated areas and the on-going subsidy for them is a tolerable one.
That’s not true of the high speed rail project. They’re not going to construct it where it would make the most sense because NIMBY opposition will kill it long before a shovel is ever dug for it.
That’s why the HSR supporters have to build the first segment in the middle of nowhere to get it jump-started.
No only the road work, but rebuilding the dam and water system in the state that puts people to work and also would bring back the Ag industy in the state.....And still likely have 50 billion left over....
New freeway construction and airport expansion already has a dependable revenue stream and a guaranteed market.
The exact opposite is true for high speed rail. They assume the revenue AND market will exist 25 years out. Its a pie in the sky projection.
None of the numbers offered make the project work. If politicians weren’t involved, it wouldn’t even be on the radar.
I agree with your comments.
This thing still being talked about in California, couldn’t be more representative of the way the California Legislature works. We’re head over heals upside down, and they still look for more ways to squander taxpayer dollars.
Then, with all the calamity befalling us, they come up with the screwiest legislation to assure the populace they’re still looking out for them.
Beats anything I’ve ever seen.
It ties in with the urban planning scheme that seeks to corral people in dense downtown cores. And of course connecting them with rail lines prevents sprawl and discourages use of the automobile. That works in Europe where space is at a premium. In America, most of the continent is empty and people want their privacy. Living in the suburbs with the home with the picket fence is going to be very difficult for politicians to change.
People voted for it when they thought it could be built for a modest amount of money. When you find out they low-balled the real cost by several figures, it kills the enthusiasm for building it in the first place. If Californians were asked to vote for it today, they would kill it.
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