By Bob Walsh
Governor Jerry Brown’s legacy project is High-Speed Rail. (Though not nearly as high speed nor nearly as cost effective as originally planned.) The HSR Authority made a sudden change of direction yesterday with Jerry’s choo choo.
The first leg of the train will now run from Silicon Valley in the south Bay Area to Bakersfield, about 250 miles. Originally the first leg was to run from Buttcrack to South Buttcrack, but the cost per mile was very high due to the need to build a lot of tunnels, bridges and other inconvenient and expensive things.
The original plan, approved by voters as Proposition 1A, called for 2 hours and 40 minutes commute time between SF and LA with a business plan that would be self-supporting with no government subsidy. It is now acknowledged that neither one of those goals is realistic.
Lawsuits are in the works against the current plan, and a ballot initiative is planned for this November that would divert the HSR money to increased water storage in the formerly great state of California.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Reminds me of Chattanooga Choo Choo.
Moonbeam’s Choo Choo
Pardon me, boy
Is that Moonbeam’s choo choo?
Track twenty-nine
Boy, you can gimme a shine
Can you afford
To board Moonbeam’s choo choo
In San Francisco
I've got my fare
And just a trifle to spare
When you hear the horn blowin' eight to the bar
Then you know that Los Angeles is not very far
Shove the pedal to the metal
Gotta keep it rollin'
Woo, woo, Los Angeles there you are
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