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Bid deadline extended for California high speed rail project
Multiply the estimates by 10 and only then will the estimates be getting close to the real cost of building this money pit.
I’m finally going to weigh in against any and all naysayers (especially those who are not Californians). When BART began construction 'way 'way back in the late 1960s, it built experimental tracks on right of way in the San Francisco East Bay region, and that was only possible due to easier legislation, less environmental control restrictions, etc. Today the CA High Speed Rail Authority faces the direct opposite. In no way will it be able to begin construction of a permanent roadbed or tracks inside a major metro region, hence it makes a great deal more sense to start out with the basic rural chunk and add to it. I do not now nor will not soon believe that the San Joaquin Valley segment will be forever isolated.
I will concede, however, that preliminary cost estimates and bids (like anything so expansive or large anymore) will always be low-balled, but honestly – we have to start somewhere to get California off its freeways and overcrowded airports terminals/runways somehow. This is that somehow.
The first phase of the Obama-Biden-Moonbeam Multi Billion Dollar Boondoggle Train to Nowhere. A must have for every bankrupt state. Brilliant!
It is easier to delay and bad mouth a project saying how expensive it will be. Why not get on the band wagon, get the project done now withy costs being what they are noe instead of bad mouthing the project, continue wishing something was done and it getting more expensive year by year. If it were done when first wanted, it would have been less ex0pensive and could have been being enjoyed NOW.
It is easier to delay and bad mouth a project saying how expensive it will be. Why not get on the band wagon, get the project done now withy costs being what they are noe instead of bad mouthing the project, continue wishing something was done and it getting more expensive year by year. If it were done when first wanted, it would have been less ex0pensive and could have been being enjoyed NOW.
It is easier to delay and bad mouth a project saying how expensive it will be. Why not get on the band wagon, get the project done now withy costs being what they are noe instead of bad mouthing the project, continue wishing something was done and it getting more expensive year by year. If it were done when first wanted, it would have been less ex0pensive and could have been being enjoyed NOW.
It is
It is easier to delay and bad mouth a project saying how expensive it will be. Why not get on the band wagon, get the project done now withy costs being what they are noe instead of bad mouthing the project, continue wishing something was done and it getting more expensive year by year. If it were done when first wanted, it would have been less ex0pensive and could have been being enjoyed NOW.
How about a little bid longer extension for the bid date, 25 years maybe?
The state is already insolvent, and this LA-SF boondoggle will do NOTHING for our real transportation problem here: commuter traffic.
Gov. Brown desperately wants to have a monument to himself before he leaves office for the final time, but he shouldn’t worry. Long ago, he facilitated the takeover of Sacramento by public-employee unions, and that has been a disaster for the ages. He’ll be remembered, all right.
The concept is sound, and I DO live in California, but the timeing is horrible. We in California truely need a multi-modal approach to move the masses. Rail is certainly one of these modes.
However, our State economy is still in the dumps (overtaxation, over regulation), and the State is like the Feds, borrowing more money now that ever before, in the State’s history. The State is so deep in debt, with this and many other mis-timed programs, our children, and our childrens children are going to be left to pay the bills. Bills that will lessen their quality of life versus what we enjoy, or somewhat so, today.
Patience is a vurtue, Something the Unions and Politicians know nothing about. Just keep racking up the debt. This is one way to accomplish that.
Just my thoughts.
I think it is very unlikely that this rail project will ever be completed. It is just too expensive for the state of California to pay for. California has a major budget deficit which increases and is carried over every year through clever accounting. California does not have a foreseeable funds to pay a major portion of the its share of this project in the next decade or two. California already has the highest taxes in the nation and it is very doubtful that the California government can increase
taxes to pay for this project. The only possibility of completing the California high-speed rail project would be if the federal government pays almost all of the cost of the project. Of course, the federal government also has a big continuing budget deficit problem. I would like to mention that I am a train advocate in situations where they make sense. I frequently ride The California Capital trains between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area. I also recently returned from two weeks in Switzerland where I enjoyed riding their train system every day I was there.
a northern Californian thoughts:
Phil, rob, Berry, are each on the right track…
What is needed is 1…commuter improvements; 2…N-S intra-state corridor wise, is upgrade the existing lines to serve faster through where people are who need to travel… as in tunnel through the Grape Vine instead fo using the coastal or Tahachipi variations. That should be the only new construction needed, then improve the balance. We should have a 130-mph line in several areas, not just Stockton-Fresno at a paultry 90-rating. Likewise the rest of the country.
And as for the BART EXPERIENCE, yes, that was planned to encircle the bay, c.1952. i was part of the massive effort to connect BART to the SFO terminal and finally to the CALTRAIN [SP] alignment in Milbrae/Burlingame… 5-years, at about 4x budget, and about 25% of projected ridership so far… good things are difficult to build and to get up to user speed, to proove the worth. When can we afford it?.. sooner than later, if we can survive the FUNDAMENTAL-CHANGE-ISMS that are being bloated all around us
I hope the system design is such that the high speed train sets can operate over standard rail infrastructure because that last 141 miles from Bakersfield to Los Angeles will never get built. I believe the high speed trains in Europe can run at lower speeds on non-high speed infrastructure which extends their reach.
I hope the system design is such that the high speed train sets can operate over standard rail infrastructure because that last 141 miles from Bakersfield to Los Angeles will never get built. I believe the high speed trains in Europe can run at lower speeds on non-high speed infrastructure which extends their reach.
Above and beyond the fact that Jerky Brown is not a “financial” genius, how can the State justify Billions in construction and then eternal subsidies - which they don’t have- when all the “successful” High Speed Rail ops - France, Japan and China are ALL State sponsored/subsidized !!!
California has yet to explain how they will maintain the “promised” high speeds through the Tehachapi AND Coastal Range MOUNTAINS !!!