One of the news stories I read earlier this morning said they're already blaming California Republicans for the failure.

Uhhhh yeah...

The good news is that this and the Green New Deal (aka far left wing) have now been tied together on a national stage.

This will grow in cost and duration. It won't get better, it will only fail worse as time goes on. If they don't abandon it, that's better for the right. It will/has become the focus of all of this silly Green New Deal BS. Utter failure focused into one example...perfect.

As someone living in Cali, my opinion is that a reasonably fast rail system between LA and the bay area would be very helpful and appreciated. I have ridden the rail a fair amount in Europe, and much prefer it to driving in a car for many types of trips.

I suspect that some of the cost overruns were from contractors charging super high fees because they were building for the state. I have no sympathy for the .gov here, who charge residents super high fees for everything they can.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
Isn't Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, neck deep in this boondoggle? Yeah, I wouldn't expect any sunlight here while either of them are still alive.

If so, he was definitely planning on lining his pockets with this project.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
A high speed line from Manteca do the Bay makes much more sense and might, just maybe, have a better chance at actually pulling paying customers in.

An incremental approach would've been better rather than a grandiose big-State project. Replace BART with a modern system, extend it into the CV and Sac areas.

quote:

Originally posted by c1steve:
As someone living in Cali, my opinion is that a reasonably fast rail system between LA and the bay area would be very helpful and appreciated. I have ridden the rail a fair amount in Europe, and much prefer it to driving in a car for many types of trips.

I suspect that some of the cost overruns were from contractors charging super high fees because they were building for the state. I have no sympathy for the .gov here, who charge residents super high fees for everything they can.

An SF-LA-SD route would be used and would eventually pay for itself (50-years ) , unlike the Madera-Bakersfield idea, where everything is spread-out and you have to drive to the station anyways so, just drive down 99 instead. CA has geography working against it's metro areas, an established train route should've been established long ago.

Cost issues were a result of gov mismanagement, over staffing (too many chiefs...)imminent domain buy-outs, the menagerie of lawsuits from special interests groups, various regulatory hurdles (Dems screwing their own ideas) and then the contractors with all their shady, under-the-table deals on big projects like this. Season-2 of True Detective touches this topic.

Just as information, despite what the rumor mill says, industrial/commercial contractors don’t make that much. It’s probably one of the lowest net profitability industries out there.

State work is all competitively bid also. I’ll bet my house it’s not contractors getting rich that is the problem.

Unless you lived right next to the main station in one of the hub cities, I just don't see how this train would be any faster than flying. If you live in LA, you would probably have a miserable drive to the train station, wherever it was put. If your appt. in SF wasn't right next to the train station, again, you'd have a miserable drive to get there. There's no way that who trip would take under four hours on a high speed train, counting door to door time. And so it's still easier, cheaper and faster to fly. You can choose from many airports around LA/OC and the Bay Area. $77 billion would cover that airfare for lots of people for lots of years.

AOC's whole little fantasy is falling apart quickly.
Hopefully Mitch McConnell's idea of calling a vote to put these ill informed politicians on record will continue to show just how crazy their ideas are.
When Gavin Newsome looks like the only responsible adult in the room you know you are in trouble.

https://www.miamiherald.com/ne...rticle226152895.html

The Latest on California Gov. Gavin Newsom's State of the State address (all times local):

5:50 p.m.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office says he is fully committed to building a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

That's despite his comments Tuesday that there "isn't a path" right now for the project.

He said during his State of the State speech that he's refocusing on finishing a segment of rail in the Central Valley that's already under construction. Newsom says he'll complete the environmental reviews for the full line. That's a stipulation of federal dollars the state has already received.

Newsom said the project would cost too much and take too long. But his spokesman Nathan Click said he's not walking away from it.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
Unless you lived right next to the main station in one of the hub cities, I just don't see how this train would be any faster than flying. If you live in LA, you would probably have a miserable drive to the train station, wherever it was put. If your appt. in SF wasn't right next to the train station, again, you'd have a miserable drive to get there. There's no way that who trip would take under four hours on a high speed train, counting door to door time. And so it's still easier, cheaper and faster to fly. You can choose from many airports around LA/OC and the Bay Area. $77 billion would cover that airfare for lots of people for lots of years.

When BART was connected to SFO back in '03, I had some time so, to humor myself, I decided to try it out. I lived in one of the bigger residential neighborhoods in SF at the time. One bus ride to downtown to get to the station, two BART trains (not all trains go to the airport ) to get to SFO, it took me over 2+ hrs. Flew back and id the reverse, it was up to 3-hrs, from landing to walking through my front door. Nope, never again, serves only those downtown hotels, ergo doesn't serve the people.

BART took 20-years from it's opening to it's next expansion, since then 2-million more people have flooded the area, land is at a premium and property litigation is big business. They blew their chance to develop a inter-connected rail system.