Tuesday, March 05, 2019

MORE PROBLEMS FOR JERRY'S TOY TRAIN

by Bob Walsh

It now looks as though the HSR Authority (High-Speed Rail), which was supposed to build a semi-sort-of high speed train from Sac and SF to LA and maybe eventually San Diego, is in deeper financial trouble than they were making out. Gee, what a surprise.

The current plan is to finish the portion between Merced and Bakersfield, essentially so the state maybe will not have to refund as few billion to the feds. As of right now they are guesstimating it will cost at least $16 billion, maybe a couple of billion more, to actually complete this link and buy rolling stock. They have only about $15 billion available. And the feds are now looking real hard at past expenditures of the HSR authority.

A project update is due in May. That may put the final nail in the coffin of Jerry's bodacious boondoggle.

Ding dong, the train is dead. (Maybe-probably.)

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