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Posted on 01/08/2012 8:48:35 AM PST by SmithL
JIt's one thing for politicians, ordinary citizens, lawyers or even media pundits to say that California's bullet train project is fatally flawed and should be scrapped before it becomes a hopeless money pit.
Bullet train zealots dismiss those naysayers as uninformed or biased, and even reject milder criticism from the Legislature's budget analyst.
But when the California High-Speed Rail Authority's own "peer review" committee of transportation experts says the project is half-baked and should be put on hold, Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature should pay heed. And that's exactly what happened last week.
The peer reviewers, headed by former Caltrans director Will Kempton, told the Legislature that while recently revised plans are an improvement, they still don't adequately describe how the north-south system could reasonably be built and operated.
It concluded, "We cannot overemphasize the fact that moving ahead on the HSR project without credible sources of adequate funding, without a definitive business model, without a strategy to maximize the independent utility and value to the state, and without the appropriate management resources, represents an immense financial risk on the part of the State of California."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
You raise an excellent point.
I am a long-distance train commuter. I ride a train in to downtown LA for 70 minutes each way, every weekday. Although a few stretches of the track allow us to go 70mph, most of the track is graded (or whatever the term is) so as to allow only a rambling 25-30mph.
I ask about this, and I am told there is no money to upgrade the tracks.
Why is an entirely superfluous, dangerous $200++ HSR project given higher priority in this whackadoo state than upgrading existing roads and (outdated) rails?
If I don’t live in California, why should I care?
If I don’t live in California, why should I care?Excellent Question. This entire high-speed rail project was dreamed up in Washington DC, and presented to the states. California has already been promised $3.9 billion for their "rail to nowhere", with a lot more forthcoming if the project ever does get underway. If High Speed Rail is built in California, you will help pay for it, regardless of whether it is successful or not.
More at Keyword: HighSpeedRail.
Fed taxes pay for about 50% of this boondoggle.
California thanks you for your contribution.
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Actually, I wouldn't. Despite what my nick might suggest, I actually live in this bowl of fruits, flakes and nuts called California.
sad; and there’s probably no stopping this boondogle.
Well...........when they’ve finally spent so much they can’t borrow any more, they’ll have no choice except to stop spending.
No one wants to travel from Southern California to Northern California. Vegas, San Diego, Hell! Maybe even Phoenix, but Northern California defeats the point of living in California. The weather.
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