Posted on 05/19/2025 9:20:08 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Gov. Newsom of California is determined to see the high-speed rail system completed or at least started, but the bad news just keeps rolling in like a freight train (pun intended). Newsom is in the process of pushing for next fiscal year's budget and as part of that process he has announced a plan to make sure the bullet train project gets money from the state climate fund.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to tap at least $2.5 billion from the state’s climate fund to pay for state firefighting crews and the long-troubled high-speed rail project.
In his budget proposal unveiled last week, Newsom announced that he is seeking to extend the state’s landmark cap and trade program, which is funded by credits bought and sold by major polluters, through 2045. But the allocation of the money is already triggering a fervent debate among state lawmakers...
...through 2045, the governor’s plan would earmark at least $1 billion a year of the climate funds to the California high-speed rail project, which aims to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco. The project, which has been beset with construction delays, cost overruns and fights about the route for years, was allocated $407 million of cap and trade money last year.
Set aside for a moment the fact that the high-speed rail system will potentially need a billion dollars per year for the next 20 years. That's bad enough given that the project is already 17 years old.
But on top of that, the state climate fund is supposed to shrink over time as there are fewer oil related projects to pay into it. As one Democratic Assembly member put it, "the whole point is to transition." The more you transition, the less money will be in that fund. So a plan to base fire prevention and high-speed rail on a fund that is going away doesn't make a lot of sense even to supporters of California's cap and trade system.
Today we're also learning that as part of this new budget proposal the cost of high-speed rail has gone up yet again.
California’s High Speed Rail project may soon face a bigger price tag and a $10.2 billion budget gap, even larger than what lawmakers expected two months ago, as project leaders look to complete the first segment between Bakersfield and Merced...
Project leaders have been focused on completing the 171-mile Bakersfield to Merced line, which was expected to cost taxpayers an estimated $35.3 billion with a completion date sometime between 2030 and 2033, according to the California High Speed Rail Project’s 2024 business plan.
Consultants have now been informed and documents obtained by KCRA 3 show the Bakersfield to Merced project estimate could now grow by up to another $3.2 billion, reaching a total of $38.5 billion. In the project update report, project leaders pointed to inflation and the rising cost of certain materials, such as concrete and copper as some of the reasons for the possible increases. A spokesperson for the High-Speed Rail Authority confirmed the information.
To summarize, the cost of the plan went up $3.2 billion since the last estimate two months ago. At this rate, the projected cost could easily pass $40 billion before the end of the calendar year. And over the next 6-8 years while this is being built who knows. There's another cost estimate expected this summer, so expect another jump in the price then.
When this project started in 2008 the entire line from Los Angeles to San Francisco was estimated to cost $33 billion. Now the cost of just a fraction of the line that no one will ride has surpassed that with years to go until completion. This is ridiculous.
I've said probably a dozen times that I personally really like high speed rail. The Shinkansen in Japan is a great way to get from Tokyo to Osaka in a matter of hours. But greater Tokyo (the city and surrounding areas) has a population roughly equivalent to the entire state of California and Osaka has a population of 19 million. In between is Kyoto with a population of nearly 1.5 million. It makes sense to have a bullet train connecting all of this.
Bakersfield has a population of 400,000 and Merced has a population of under 100,000. The entire county of Merced has a population under 300,000 people. There's just no need for a bullet train connecting these two points, especially not one with a $38 billion price tag.
The original plan was to send the train up the center of the I-5 which already was cleared as a transportation corridor. At this point, with the total project cost surpassing $100 billion, Gov. Newsom should spend 6 months and get a fresh estimate for a train that takes the I-5 path north, bypassing the central valley. If that version of the system could be completed sooner and cheaper than the current boondoggle, the state should just admit failure and start over.
Here's a local news report about the current state of this mess.
Can you say rope’n dope?
I knew you could.
not
Almost 40,000 MILLION dollars for a 171 miles of rail that NOBODY will use.
Just think how many thousands of millions are lining leftist pockets.
Imagine how much more it will cost when (if?) they start laying track!
Platinum tracks weren’t enough.
It needs Rhodium tracks!
Climate Change = Weather
Newsom is Joe Biden with better hair.
The frightening thing is, if he runs, he might well become President.
“Imagine how much more it will cost when (if?) they start laying track!”
I haven’t heard that they’ve acquired the right of ways to get from Merced to SF and from Bakersfield to LA. That’s where the costs will truly be insane. They will need to buy some of the most valuable real estate in the world and overpaying to connected cronies is an ancient Democrat scam. I won’t doubt that the likes of Paul Pelosi had an inside track on getting those properties before the purchases.
I forgot to mention overcharging for the construction costs was the scam for the original Pacific railroad builders. The Big four for the Central Pacific and the contractors for the UP. This is another ancient Democrat scam. This mess is going to make the Big Dig look like chump change.
“They will need to buy some of the most valuable real estate in the world ..”
umm... NOPE. The state of California will STEAL whatever property necessary and imprison or disappear whomever necessary.
” The state of California will STEAL whatever property necessary and imprison or disappear whomever necessary.”
You didn’t read my post closely. They might “steal” from the little people, but they won’t from the likes of Paul Pelosi. That’s where the scam is, overpaying connected cronies for the land and the construction costs.
It will never be completed...
The governor and every politician and senior state employee need to be thoroughly investigated by Musk’s team...
Then deport them to SA, or jail all of them in Alcatraz after Trump reopens it...
This project has been in the works for an extremely long time.
It was authorized in 2006.
sure, ok, what you said, revised
The train isn’t high speed yet but the spending of tax money is quite fast.
Biden’s billion dollar project to provide us with EC charging stations all along the route would have allowed people to drive to drop off or pick up family members for this wonderful rail system.
Except there were fewer than a dozen built and there is no rail system running.
$7.5 Billion spent for 7-8 EV stations actually built as of mid-2024.
The land barons have to get paid somehow
It would’be been cheaper, but not necessarily faster, to have just widened the freeways. The I5 which runs from Mexico to Canada is just 2 lanes each way in parts. Same with the highway between these two cities.
Brightline, the company that built private train between several Florida cities, could have completed it by now. They are currently building speed to Las Vegas but they can’t yet build the tracks that get to the major metro areas within 50’miles of the coasts. We’ll see if it makes any money but it’s always been a dream to get a speed train from SoCal to Vegas. San Fran to LA too but that sped train has been hijacked by the state and scaled way back to connecting two minor cities - no offense to the people it’s just not a high demand route for passenger traffic. But Newsom is an idiot who owes party donors a lot of taxpayer funds.
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