Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Mon Oct 10, 2022 9:47 am
Now that I've read the article, "what a boondoggle". Presumably the Amtrak San Joaquins can use the (roundly) Fresno to (roundly) Bakersfield line when complete allowing greater frequencies and returning Uncle Warren's line to him for his use.
I read the article this morning... from a pro-Biden/Newsom editorial desk that's also kept a fairly positive view on things like Gateway and Portal Bridge, this is really damning.
Eventually I'll pull some choice quotes out for the CAHSR cheerleaders to try and poke holes in, but I'll start here:
When the California High-Speed Rail Authority issued its new 2022 draft business plan in February, it estimated an ultimate cost as high as $105 billion. Less than three months later, the “final plan” raised the estimate to $113 billion.
The rail authority said it has accelerated the pace of construction on the starter system, but at the current spending rate of $1.8 million a day, according to projections widely used by engineers and project managers, the train could not be completed in this century.
“We would make some different decisions today,” said Tom Richards, a developer from the Central Valley city of Fresno who now chairs the authority. He said project executives have managed to work through the challenges and have a plan that will, for the first time, connect 85 percent of California’s residents with a fast, efficient rail system. “I think it will be successful,” he said.
But there are growing doubts among key Democratic leaders in the Legislature — historically the bullet train’s base of support — and from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been cautious about committing new state financing.
As of now, there is no identified source of funding for the $100 billion it will take to extend the rail project from the Central Valley to its original goals, Los Angeles and San Francisco, in part because lawmakers, no longer convinced of the bullet train’s viability, have pushed to divert additional funding to regional rail projects.
For a system that was supposed to be $33B end to end, the overrun failure here is quite spectacular... At what point is there an obligation to go back to the voters who approved this and get a reauthorization?...
If you've blown your budget by 300%, something says that original mandate is null and void...
