For all intents and purposes, California’s high-speed rail project is dead. At least that’s the consensus among several observers of the U.S. high-speed rail scene, which, sadly, appears to be based more upon fantasy than reality.
“Real high-speed rail might still make sense in the U.S. in the densely populated Northeast Corridor and among certain high-population city-pairs elsewhere in the U.S. in the ‘sweet spot’ of 250-500 miles apart (too far to drive easily, too short to fly conveniently), if costs can be kept under control,” writes Eno Center for Transportation Senior Fellow and Eno Transportation Weekly Editor Jeff Davis. “But future high-speed rail projects would do well to avoid seven mistakes that have caused the California system to be indefinitely delayed.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, citing budget pressures, says the state will not move forward with plans to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco by high-speed rail. Rather, Newsom said the state will build only the 119-mile Central Valley segment of the line, linking Merced and Bakersfield. Newsom’s remarks, made during his first State of the State address Feb. 12, were not widely expected.
Have you seen Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business News, where, paraphrasing Elon Musk, he trashes California High Speed Rail, calling it “1960s Japanese technology” that will be “one of the greatest embarrassments in the history of California governance”?
The US High Speed Rail Association announced that Dan Richard has been selected as the new Chair of the USHSR Advisory Board.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has appointed Boris Lipkin as the Northern California regional director.
A dispute between Union Pacific and contractors threatens to slow construction of California’s high speed rail line.
If you build high-speed rail, they will come – construction workers, that is.
High-speed rail took another step forward as a key Southern California city approved development concepts related to the proposed north-south rail line.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority have agreed on joint funding for a key project.