Absolutely disappointing. Gov. Jerry Moonbeam Brown was blasting the Feds a couple months ago, saying California could go its own way and not rely on Federal money. Brown even said California could build its own satellites. Well, they can't build their own trains. After blasting Wash DC and President Trump, Gov Brown went begging for $650 million for the train project. President Trump should have tied it to ending sanctuary status for illegals.
Truth is, the electrification of the trains was unnecessary. CalTrain was already operating highly efficient hybrid trains that use electric motors, the electrical power provided by onboard diesel engines. In other words, the train was already an electric train. The real story is that Brown's high-speed train wants to share the same rail right-of-way as the CalTrain line, so Brown saw the electrification project as a way to achieve his high-speed project. All the money is going into creating rail infrastructure to handle the high-speed trains.
A huge waste of money all around, done with lies by Gov Brown.
Yep, the “high speed” train was dead as soon as the HS Rail Authority bowed to wealthy Palo Alto/San Bruno, etc. residents and “blended” the system with existing CalTrain tracks...will never achieve Prop 1(A) speed or “time to L.A.” requirements. Illegal for the Prop. 1(A) funding to be used since they can’t meet the requirements.