by Bob Walsh
Arnold Schwarzenegger was the original pimp for this, during good economic times. People bought it and liked the promises.
Jerry Brown became it's main proponent, because he hates cars and hates people who like cars. He wanted to turn CA into France or Sweden. Trouble is, in true government fashion (especially true one-party democrat controlled state party fashion) it got more and more expensive and less and less able to deliver on it's promise. The trouble for the pimps is that the specs for the system were written into the ballot initiative that created the system.
It is no acknowledged by one and all that the system can not possibly deliver the speed that was promised or be built in the time frame and at the cost level required.
Gavin Newsom sort-of pulled the plug on the project. He does want to complete part of it, running between North Buttcrack and South Buttcrack in the central valley, primarily to keep from paying the feds back for the money they have already shelled out.
The original plan was $45 billion for the whole system. The actual cost is now estimated at $80 billion, maybe even $98 billion, and the speed would be nowhere near what was originally promised.
The Merced to Bakersfield section, that is now sort-of maybe going to be built, was previously estimated at $10.6 billion. The HSR Authority (High-Speed Rail) is now guesstimating a minimum of $12.4 billion, maybe as much as $13.5 billion.
So far they only have 1/3 of the funding for the total system.
No trains will run anywhere on the system until 2028 at the earliest.
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