Train to nowhere: can California’s high-speed rail project ever get back on track? | California | The Guardian
"In most places, Tom Zoellner writes in his 2014 book Train, the American railroad “is still regarded as a charming antique, an object of art for eccentrics and a last resort for the poor. Approximately 98% of the American public has never set foot on a city-to-city train.”"
"“It’s dreamland. It’s unrealistic. It will never cover its own expenses from the farebox,” said Quentin Kopp, a retired former legislator and judge who led the charge for an LA-San Francisco high speed line for two decades, starting in the 1990s, but has now lost hope that it will ever see the light of day.
“Who cares about going from Merced to Bakersfield? I am appalled and angry over the bastardization of the promise to taxpayers … It’s a stupid waste of money. All this is doing is making contractors and engineers and bureaucrats fat and happy.”"
"The initiative also promised that the service would pay for itself, with no operating subsidy, a promise that now seems near-impossible to keep."
Time to shoot it and put it out of the taxpayers misery.
Big project can't be built in its entirety by yesterday - scrap it.
Yep! That is the spirit of American superiority. [/sarcasm]
With that kind of thinking we would still be WALKING on ox trails.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
No, the point being made is the California high speed rail project has turned from what might have been a worthwhile enterprise (even if nobody asked for it) into a first-class racket. Al Capone would have been proud.
Flintlock76No, the point being made is the California high speed rail project has turned from what might have been a worthwhile enterprise (even if nobody asked for it)...
It was passed by the legislature and a majority of voters.
MidlandMikeIt was passed by the legislature and a majority of voters.
Yes that's so, but it's still become a racket. No-one voted for THAT.
The voters agreed to $9 Billion, with a total estimate of $33 Billion, and a train running by 2020.
The latest estimate is $105 Billion (not counting inflation!), with no train running for many years yet.
Part of the real damage this has caused is that it probably has sunk just about any other HSR project being proposed in the country.
York1 John
One problem from the start IMO has been the real estate acquisition problems. How can a contractor proceed when he has to stop at a property that has not been acquired? Change notices to stop at line cost big bucks. Some in the business can explain why. As I understand all needed property still has not been acquired. How many years since voter approval?
Anyone know the problem? Does CAL highway department have these problems?
I believe the cost is required to be in year-of-expenditure dollars. If that is correct, then the estimate does include inflation. It also means that the cost automatically goes up with delays, although not in today's dollars. If you read the Golden Gate Bridge cost so many millions, your first question is gonna be what is that in today's dollars? Here, the problem is the inverse.
I have heard that the Authority was not given as strong condemnation powers as Caltrans for highways. Perhaps someone can verify. But nothing seems to stop a highway project, except in very rare cases.
Flintlock76 MidlandMike It was passed by the legislature and a majority of voters. Yes that's so, but it's still become a racket. No-one voted for THAT.
MidlandMike It was passed by the legislature and a majority of voters.
A big part of the problem was that both the schedule and budget were -um- optimistic. This was compounded by a lack of strong management to keep the consultants "on track". In addition, a lot of money could have been saved by following I-5 though the San Joaquin Valley instead of US 99, but that would have cut off the Bakersfield to Fresno corridor.
A somewhat related note was the construction of the eastern half (Oakland side) of the Bay Bridge. The contractors decided that they could save a lot of money by having a Chinese company doing a lot of the fabrication, but most of the "savings" were eaten up by the cost of replacing substandard materials (e.g. bolts).
Here is a take on the California system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcjr4jbGuJg&t=5s
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