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$68-billion California bullet train project likely to overshoot budget and deadline targets
LA Times ^ | 10-24-2015 | Ralph Vartabedian

Posted on 10/24/2015 6:57:47 PM PDT by BAW

he monumental task of building California's bullet train will require punching 36 miles of tunnels through the geologically complex mountains north of Los Angeles.

Crews will have to cross the tectonic boundary that separates the North American and Pacific plates, boring through a jumble of fractured rock formations and a maze of earthquake faults, some of which are not mapped.

It will be the most ambitious tunneling project in the nation's history.

State officials say the tunnels will be finished by 2022 — along with 300 miles of track, dozens of bridges or viaducts, high-voltage electrical systems, a maintenance plant and as many as six stations. Doing so will meet a commitment to begin carrying passengers between Burbank and Merced in the first phase of the $68-billion high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

However, a Times analysis of project documents, as well as interviews with scientists, engineers and construction experts, indicates that the deadline and budget targets will almost certainly be missed — and that the state has underestimated the challenges ahead, particularly completing the tunneling on time.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: bullettrain; california; duh; hsr
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To: 17th Miss Regt

What do they care? It’s taxpayer money.


21 posted on 10/24/2015 7:26:17 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (There's a right to gay marriage in the Constitution but there is no right of an unborn baby to life.)
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To: BAW

-——Rail officials have said they plan to choose a route and secure environmental approvals for the Burbank-to-Merced line by 2017, at which point the tunneling itself could be put out to bid-——

They aren’t even going to start to build the tunnel boring machines until 2019...

They haven’t even got past the environment paperwork....

They are building actually a twin bore tunnel, so it’s 72 miles of tunneling...

It will be completed by 2022....?

Wow... Someone is living in a complete and total fantasyland....


22 posted on 10/24/2015 7:27:06 PM PDT by Popman (Christ alone: My Cornerstone...)
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To: 17th Miss Regt

Not only will it cost 5X what was budgeted, ridership will be 1/5 of what was projected. This is a total loser and will bankrupt the state. Idiot Dems and their fascination with 1840s technology — why??


23 posted on 10/24/2015 7:29:01 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not, no explanation is possible)
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To: BAW

With an extended period of draught and resulting water shortage which also will impact their agriculture they would be a whole lots better off by investing in huge desalination projects which could be powered by solar power as they have plenty of sunshine.

As far as water conservation is concerned they could take a few lessons from the Israelis, who would be more than willing to furnish the blue prints for huge hydroponic growth centers, which use minimal amounts of water and at the same time raise fish as well as a byproduct.

Not only that but it also would produce many jobs in regards to maintenance, growing procedures and shipping. But well before something like this would be implemented conditions will have to get lots worse before anyone sees the light, and I have a feeling that we are headed this way.


24 posted on 10/24/2015 7:29:46 PM PDT by saintgermaine (Is she somehow related)
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To: BAW

The train to nowhere.


25 posted on 10/24/2015 7:29:53 PM PDT by AlaskaErik (I served and protected my country for 31 years. Progressives spent that time trying to destroy it.)
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To: BAW

Really quite unexpected...


26 posted on 10/24/2015 7:31:24 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: Osage Orange
How can they even use the term, bullet?

They really shouldn't use that term "bullet". Even in a best-case scenario, the trains will slow to a crawl within a hundred miles of the endpoints SF and LA. Folks in both areas are upset about the changes required for commerce and traffic near the proposed rail line, and there's no way to have a fast train anywhere near the city. It would have been easier to build an elevated rail line over the ocean near the coast than satisfy all the entities involved. (And no, I'm not suggesting that be done!)

27 posted on 10/24/2015 7:31:48 PM PDT by roadcat
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To: BAW

The horror of Supertrain almost brought down a network

28 posted on 10/24/2015 7:32:19 PM PDT by anymouse (God didn't write this sitcom we call life, he's just the critic.)
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To: Lisbon1940

Actually the train never makes it to SF you have to use buses in the Bay Area to get to the ‘fast’ part with the train


29 posted on 10/24/2015 7:32:20 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: BAW
California Bullet Train is nothing more than a lifetime make work program for unions.

Every election cycle we'll hear how a candidate will guarantee that s/he will make the trains run on time...

30 posted on 10/24/2015 7:33:22 PM PDT by lewislynn (Meghan Kelley...#sand--Rosie, the Don was right-- Hillary, lipstick on a pig)
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To: roadcat
Bullet's will be outlawed in CA soon enough....so will Target stores.

That's the stupid mindset

31 posted on 10/24/2015 7:33:46 PM PDT by Osage Orange (The liberals are asking us to give Obama time. We agree and think 25 to life would be appropriate.)
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To: BAW

They want to run 20 trains / hour on the SF Peninsula — one every 3 minutes. 8 will be the new bullet trains and 12 electrified CalTrain commuter trains. The noise is going to be incessant here and is on top of the new flight routes to SFO that put all SFO bound traffic right over Palo Alto. People are hopping mad here and discovering the fedgov doesn’t give a sh!t about them.


32 posted on 10/24/2015 7:34:25 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not, no explanation is possible)
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To: Osage Orange

Right, can’t say “bullet.” Maybe change name to “wizard.”

Remember what name-changer B0 Stevedunhambarrysoetorobathhousebarrysoebarkah said about trains...
“No pat-downs!”


33 posted on 10/24/2015 7:35:13 PM PDT by Zuse (I am disrupted! I am offended! I am insulted! I am outraged!)
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To: BAW

Let it serve as the Mt Rushmore of California Idiocy commemorating the stupidity and corruption of ‘leaders’ that have led this state to the brink of disaster.

What’s the carbon footprint of this project uhhh boondoggle?

and will it stomp out stupid or will we have to wait for a Big One to hit to do that? and even then..


34 posted on 10/24/2015 7:35:18 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (SEMPER FI!! - Monthly Donors Rock!!)
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To: BAW

original ballot measure:

http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_1A,_High-Speed_Rail_Act_%282008%29


35 posted on 10/24/2015 7:36:21 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (It's beginning to look like "Morning in America" again. Comment on YouTube under Trump Free Ride.)
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To: BAW

Lord have mercy what a colossal waste of money.

Desal plants instead would be a wiser way to spend that money.


36 posted on 10/24/2015 7:37:29 PM PDT by Califreak (Hope and Che'nge is killing U.S. Feel the Trump-mentum!(insert ireallysupportCruzdisclaimerhere/))
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To: ronnie raygun

Of course it is another Democrat money laundry.

Pray America wakes


37 posted on 10/24/2015 7:38:44 PM PDT by bray (If Obama had a son he would be a cop killer.)
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To: twister881

Instead of building more reservoirs, pumping stations, water pipelines, desalination plants, prisons, roads, etc., the Stalinists in Sacramento intend to spend 100s of billions on a worthless train that runs between the high desert and Las Vegas. Doesn’t go anywhere near Los Angeles. Bribes, kickbacks, payoffs, and all manner of criminal acts are at play.

...

The elected crooks do love expensive construction projects because it’s easy to skim a fortune and not get caught.


38 posted on 10/24/2015 7:40:02 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: saintgermaine

I like it!


39 posted on 10/24/2015 7:40:23 PM PDT by Califreak (Hope and Che'nge is killing U.S. Feel the Trump-mentum!(insert ireallysupportCruzdisclaimerhere/))
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To: AlaskaErik

Burbank to Merced—that’ll generate a lot of traffic.


40 posted on 10/24/2015 7:40:25 PM PDT by hanamizu
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