Even though he strongly supported high speed rail in his recent State of the State speech, Gov. Jerry Brown is now hedging that support. He says the cost will not be anywhere near $100 billion and that alternative forms of funding can be found. However, he’s not given much in the way of details [...]
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science.kqed.org Somewhat bafflingly, California Governor Jerry Brown’s continued his unwavering support for beleaguered high speed rail plans in his State of the State speech last week. The HSR line would link Los Angeles and San Francisco with trains going 200 mph. The HSR line was initially budgeted at $33 billion with current estimates now [...] californiawatch.org The California High Speed Rail Peer Review Group, a group tasked with advising the state legislature on high-speed rail, says state bond money for high speed rail (HSR) should be withhelduntil an economically feasible business plan is developed. Right now, the numbers are dire. The first phase of California HSR has a $25-30 [...] cahighspeedrail.ca.gov Despite spending a whopping $12.5 million in the past two years on public relations, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has yet to start construction or even decide where all the tracks will go. Given the concerted opposition to HSR now coming from California municipalities as well as the House of Representatives, it [...] The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) recently released a report saying its proposed plan to put a tunnel underneath Diridon Station in San Jose is not possible. The soil is poor with high amounts of groundwater. Plus, a tunnel would require buying more property than an elevated system, and would thus cost substantially more. [...] The California High Speed Rail Authority has released a report saying costs for their own proposed high speed rail (HSR) lines from Anaheim to San Francisco have more than doubled to $98 billion and will take thirteen years longer to complete than previously estimated. Yet, ever perky, the Authority says the line will be [...] Most state projects for High Speed Rail (HSR), including California, assume they will get major funding from the federal government. This is no longer true. The Senate Appropriations Committee, which is controlled by Democrats, recently voted to fund HSR by a token $100 million in FY 2012. Congress and the country are in a [...] Reasons: The huge cost. Hub cities and main stops will prosper at the expense of smaller cities and towns. Most people won’t be able to afford the tickets. In a true sign of the times, the Economist mentions several countries with HSR plans but not the bumbling, ever-delayed, always more expensive plans for the proposed [...] Two facts. The Republicans want spending cuts. The White House just announced they wiill seek $53 billion for high speed rail funding. So, they have a big, highly visible fight about it. Let’s say HSR funding gets cut to $10 billion. Republicans declare victory. Yet the money was never allocated so it’s not really [...] An ad-hoc group of transportation experts, headed by former state director of transportation Will Kempton, slammed the California High Speed Rail Authority saying it needed “a thorough reassessment of a number of critical engineering, financial, economic and managerial issues.” Um, that doesn’t leave much for them to be in approval of, does it? Their [...] |  | ||||
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