Posted on 05/14/2012 10:31:09 AM PDT by Deo volente
If California starts building a 130-mile segment of high-speed rail late this year as planned, it will enter into a risky race against a deadline set up under federal law.
The bullet train track through the Central Valley would cost $6 billion and have to be completed by September 2017, or else potentially lose some of its federal funding. It would mean spending as much as $3.5 million every calendar day, holidays and weekends included — the fastest rate of transportation construction known in U.S. history, according to industry and academic experts.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
“Big Dig” redux..
With the state budget 16 billion in the hole?....Gov. Moonbeam go to hell!
High speed rail might be a project that loses money for years to come, but it'll make liberals 'feel' good about themselves. And really, isn't that all that matters? /s
If a private company wants to do it (a high speed rail from LA to Vegas...) Fine... but why should the TAXPAYERS do it????
“but why should the TAXPAYERS do it????”
Because the unions want it. The democrats and the union thugs don’t care about the taxpayers.
In order to pay off the politicians invested in "pump and dump" stock schemes involving the contractors favored by government specifications.
It’ll be a bullet train alright. Guess who gets the bullet.
California is 16 billion in the hole.
I guess it’s time you other states to pony up. :)
LOL, they want this when Caltrans takes 8 years to build a new overpass?
LOL! Sure, what could go wrong?
Why is it that My Texas Tax dollars are going to build some useless(to Texans) California Train
If California wants a train let them pay for it themselves. They can even take their share of the federal highway funds to pay for their boondoggle like New Mexico did with the “rail runner” boondoggle.
But don’t be taking hard earned Texas dollars from Texas and give it to California for non-defense proposes.
“the fastest rate of transportation construction known in U.S. history, according to industry and academic experts.”
Shows you what these clowns know.
The transcontinental railroad project laid 1,777 miles of track in just six years. And it was built by hand.
CHSR will include about 800 miles of track and it looks like it won’t be completed until as late as 2040.
“but why should the TAXPAYERS do it????”
Because California has around 38 million people in it right now and by 2050 it will have as many as 60 million according to some projections. They can’t build any more airports and building new highways is already a dead issue. There was a proposed third Cental Valley freeway some years back and it was detailed-to-death in the Legislature and then by lawsuits until it was abandoned.
Shoot, it’s taken more than my lifetime to get the Highway 1 tunnel at Devil’s Slide built. I can’t imagine a new highway being built. And then in the LA area there’s pressure to close the Ontario airport so how are people supposed to get around?
I’d love to see it be built privately but how is that going to happen unless we kill every last lawyer in the country? The privately funded Texas high speed rail project died a death by a thousand cuts when Southwest Airlines bankrolled the lawsuits against it.
California needs a new north-south transportation infrastructure for the future and if it can’t be a highway or additional airports then that leaves rail as the remaining option unless you can think of something else.
I don’t think any person in a responsible state should be forced to pay for anything in California. There’s no reason to reward California idiocy...
Well as the wage earners are bailing as California crumbles, the 60 million or so people that are projected to be in California are going to walk over the border. I suggest you let them walk instead of ride high speed rail boondoggles.
At the rate California is going they will not need freeways, dirt paths between villages will do.
I’m curious, do you also denounce the High Speed Rail project in Israel as a ‘boondoggle’?
I am hoping the entire legal system is the focus of the tea party after we get the tax code reformed.
We have to stop electing lawyers and effect reforms that bring the legal system into the 21st century.
Yeah, if you mean the train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, it is a tremendously expensive way to replace a few cars. I am not aware of its financial condition, but I highly doubt with the small traffic on it that its making a profit.
If you mean the train in Jerusalem that is a local commuter train, it was not completed before I left. I know it horribly screwed up the traffic flow by removing many streets for cars. So once it get going its really a toss up if in the long run it helps people flow.
Think of it this way, you can load your groceries in the trunk of the car and drive them home, or you can carry them in your arms on the train. I guess its ok as long as you dont buy much groceries at a time and make lots more trips.
But then, does it save time making more trips?
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