by Bob Walsh
A bit more definite information has come to light in the report released Friday by the new head of the High-Speed Rail Authority.
The new projected cost is a minimum of $77.3 million, with a reasonable projected finished cost of $98.1 billion. That is up at a minimum $13 million compared to the guesstimate from only two years ago. In addition they are asserting that the minimum time for partial completion, that would allow trains to run between Bakersfield and San Francisco, is 2029. That is four years later than previous estimates. The most optimistic estimate now peg full system completion at 2033, downhill with a tail wind.
The full report runs 114 pages and will be the subject of legislative hearings in about 60 days.
The current guesstimate says that it will cost somewhere between $25 billion and $45 billion to bore the necessary tunnels to get from Bakersfield to L.A.
State Senator Andy Vidak (R-Hanford) has said of the project, "Initially a rathole, now a sinkhole, soon it will be an abyss in which more and more tax dollars are lost forever. I speak of the never-ending scam called High Speed Rail." I guess he doesn't like Jerry's toy train.
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