Posted on 10/27/2015 7:29:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
California's high-speed rail project will never make its current 2022 arrival time, according to the Los Angeles Times. Doesn't this strike anyone in charge of this costly boondoggle as ironic?
The Los Angeles Times does a commendable job of providing a reality check to the increasingly out-of-touch project. After reviewing project documents and talking to various experts, the paper concluded, "The deadline and budget targets will almost certainly be missed," and state officials have "underestimated the challenges ahead."
Officials still haven't settled on a route, they're behind schedule in acquiring land, getting permits and financing, and the project faces several lawsuits.
Boring on the 36 miles of planned tunnels isn't likely to get started until 2019, the Times notes, and by any reasonable estimate it will take another 7 to 14 years to complete. Even that's probably optimistic, since several parts will traverse known fault lines, vastly increasing the complexity of the effort.
It could easily take another four years after the tunnels are finished to install all the track and equipment. That means that completion of just Phase 1 of the bullet train will be closer to 2030.
Costs, which have already more than doubled, are likely to be higher than the current $68 billion estimate, the Times notes. Project-management firm Parsons Brinckerhoff said in a secret 2013 report, which the Times obtained, that it saw cost overruns "in almost every phase of the project." The state hasn't figured out how to finance the current costs.
Officials have already backpedaled on the lofty promises of travel time and ridership. To keep costs down to $68 billion, for example, the trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles won't be on high-speed rail at either end. And instead of 90 million a year, ridership is expected to be about 30 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
Yeah but think of the kickbacks...........the mind boggles.
Is it politically correct to call it a ‘bullet’ train?
This is not about building any damn train! It’s about consultants collecting millions of taxpayer dollars in return for their financial support of Guvner Brown and the California Democrat Socialist Party.
Willie Green Memorial Ping.
I so miss Willy Green on these threads... :(
RE: Is it politically correct to call it a ‘bullet’ train?
It is often referred to as the high speed train in the Golden State.
3x longer than planned to build.
3x higher cost than budgeted.
1/3 the passengers and revenue.
If you are a democrat or union guy, you’re in heaven.
The continuing comi-tragedy that is California.
Just go ask the people of Boston how well these things turn out by the time they’re finished. Or even Detroit for smaller projects with the union label attached.
“California’s Bullet Train Will Take Even Longer To Go Nowhere”
Sounds like an apropriate metaphor for liberal ideas.
Took the Japanese only 5 years to construct the first Shinkansen route between Tokyo and Osaka ( 1959-1964 ) and that was 50 years ago !!!
I feel threatened.
The LATimes story on which this IBD article is based is quite good. Speaks to geologists and engineers about the challenges of tunneling through the San Gabriel mountains. Made is sound as though Cave-ins will be very difficult to predict or prevent. The mountains are highly friable.
The California Union of Networked Ticket-Takers, Local 123, likes the idea.
California’s answer to “The Big Dig”
Boston’s multi-billion dollar boondoggle that seems to have done not much to alleviate traffic problems
Apparently when you funnel EVERYONE through a few openings in the ground you still have lines hours long on the thruway.
It took me 3 hours to get to the airport once, and it is a half-hour drive with no traffic.
RE: Speaks to geologists and engineers about the challenges of tunneling through the San Gabriel mountains. Made is sound as though Cave-ins will be very difficult to predict or prevent
So, did the original estimate take the above difficulties and challenges into account and factor in the cost? I think not.
That makes ‘one’ of us.
The bullet train is a classic example of bait and switch.
It was sold with a low price tag, unrealistic assumptions and no real financing plan in place.
Voters are not going to be delivered what they were promised.
Its unlikely to ever be built.
I take it BO$$ TWEED is in charge of this boondoggle?
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