Last week, The non-partisan and well-regarded Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) issued a highly critical report on current High Speed Rail (HSR) plans. The LAO said HSR is threatened by erratic (if not completely non-existent) financing compounded by management problems.
Therefore, the LAO recommends 1) the entire project be shifted from the High Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) to the Department of Transportation, 2) plans to build an initial “link to nowhere” in the San Joaquin Valley be reevaluated, and 3) only $7 million of the $185 million in funding requested by Gov. Jerry Brown be approved at this time. I was not able to find anything in the report that was praiseworthy towards the HSRA. Ouch!
Read the whole article on CAIVN. HSR seemed a really good idea at first. But costs are soaring, funding is tens of billions short, it will never be anywhere close to self-supporting, and entrenched interests will fight to block rail line expansion in their areas for years to come. It’s time to plug the plug on this debacle.