Posted on 03/13/2021 11:12:18 AM PST by george76
California’s high-speed rail plan is running on fumes. Whether the actual train ever runs is anyone’s guess.
The project is seeking to withdraw an additional $4.1 billion in funding, the last of a $10 billion bond approved by voters in 2008. Voters approved that measure, thinking it would be used to connect the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Instead, it’s being requested in order to connect Merced to Bakersfield — the still-incomplete first stage of the project, which covers less than half of the hoped-for distance.
The project has been (forgive me) a train wreck from the beginning. Its plan to start by carving through the rural farmland of the Central Valley incensed the more conservative region, giving rise to accusations that the state wouldn’t follow through on the project. Construction finally began in 2015, three years behind schedule. Now, from the air, you can see where the path carves through fields, with partially built structures peppering the way.
The plan started with a price tag of $33 billion and a funding gap that officials hoped to fill with government money. Now, it’s inflated to $77 billion, and it could still jump up to over $98 billion.
The completion date has been pushed back repeatedly. In June 2018, it was set for completion in 2033, 13 years behind schedule. Even that seems optimistic, as the Central Valley track has already been pushed back to 2030.
The project was always a massive boondoggle, pushed by labor unions by labor unions and developers seeking to cash in on lucrative contracts. This was clear to anyone who was paying attention. The constant delays and cost increases were as predictable as the sunrise.
All this money for a project whose completion never gets any closer on the horizon. And the money could have been put to plenty of other uses. It could have gone toward addressing California's worst-in-the-nation poverty or the fact that the Golden State is now home to more than 25% of the nation’s homeless.
The grand, shining train that former Gov. Jerry Brown envisioned in 2012 will never be. At best, a mere shadow of the planned rail line may become operational when he’s in his 90s and for double (or even triple) the anticipated price.
And, of course, most Californians have no reason to ride a train between Merced and Bakersfield, even if it becomes reality. But the money incinerator will continue to burn their tax dollars, and no one knows when it will stop.
Hmm...let’s see, that’s 164 miles on 99, $14.1 billion divided by 164 is just under $86 million a mile. I’m in the wrong business.
Wonder what the fare would be and how many people would ride it to somehow generate enough money to pay for the initial funds plus interest plus maintenance and salaries and administration and …..
Open up that firebox door and let’s shovel some more taxpayer money into the Pelosi Special!
Musk will be on Mars before this mess is completed.
And probably for a much lower cost per mile.
The kelptocrats misrunning California see the project as a slush fund.
It’s going to be the world’s most expensive rail-to-trail
That is the scam
This high-speed rail is not Pelosi’s doing. This is all Jerry Brown’s doing. It is Brown’s boondoggle from start to whenever it is finished. Of course, every CA Dem went along with it and they still do even though Brown has been out of office for years. It is just one massive steaming pile of graft of the Dems, by the Dems, for the Dems.
Nancy has the ice cream concession.
I can almost guarantee they will exceed $1 trillion on this project to build it and possibly never see a revenue passenger for at least a decade if ever at this point.
Amateurs.
“...home to more than 25% of the nation’s homeless.”
The homeless don’t have a home, or they wouldn’t be homeless. Journalism at its finest.
Amateurs.
A Nimitz class aircraft carrier cost a mere $4.5 billion.
And the left complains the military spends too much money...
bureaucrat nirvana...the entire budget converted to salaries, bennies and retirement.
No pesky service, bricks, mortar, rails or cars sucking up cash
Pelosi Subsidies Benefit Husband’s Investment in Dem Mega ...freebeacon.com › politics › pelosi-subsidies-benefit-hus...
Aug 15, 2014 — CEO donated to Pelosi, bundled for Obama, as Dem leader boosted his real estate holdings. ... than a billion dollars in subsidies to a light rail project that benefitted ...
but also a company in which Pelosi’s direct family owns a large stake ... Pelosi’s office did not respond to questions about whether that might ...
Steel prices for the rails have tripled since this boondoggle was started.
Yeah, but Pelosi has her dirty fingers in the project. She steered hundreds of millions of the $1.9T stimulus towards California transit, not to mention more towards easing San Francisco's budget deficit. There's a newly built Transit Terminal in downtown SF... except it isn't done. Money meant for building a below-ground high-speed train station was diverted to other layers, including a fancy pedestrian park above the streets that extends for blocks. The hole in the ground will need billions of dollars to complete the train station, right now it is useless because the money paid by bond issues for the high-speed train was diverted. Pelosi is seeking more fed money. Guess who is a main contractor? Dianne Feinstein's husband.
It is much much cheaper to fly then travel by rail.
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