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California leaders abandoning futile bullet train plans
Looks like the democratically controlled state legislature is about to stick a knife into the heart of California's high speed rail plans. Meanwhile, nary a word from Governor Newsom. Apparently the governor meant what he said in his state of the state address: “there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to LA.”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08...leaders-abandoning-futile-bullet-train-plans/
Looks like the democratically controlled state legislature is about to stick a knife into the heart of California's high speed rail plans. Meanwhile, nary a word from Governor Newsom. Apparently the governor meant what he said in his state of the state address: “there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to LA.”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08...leaders-abandoning-futile-bullet-train-plans/
A group of Assembly Democrats from Southern California are considering shifting billions of dollars planned for the bullet train in the Central Valley to improvements of current commuter rail in the Bay Area and the south, the Los Angeles Times reported this week.
The plan apparently has the support of Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, who could be a powerful political force as the Legislature this year or next considers spending more money from high-speed rail bonds voters approved in 2008.
The money redirection would still leave part of the Central Valley with funding for new track on which trains could run faster, but without the electrification for a promised high-speed rail system like that in Europe.
In the Bay Area, the money might go toward improvements to the Caltrain system on the Peninsula. In Southern California, it might be used to improve passenger rail from Burbank to Anaheim, according to the Times.
While it might be a wiser use of transportation dollars, one that would benefit the Bay Area, let’s be intellectually honest: This is a political fight over which region of the state gets the remaining money from a failed high-speed rail project.
The proposed reallocation of funds only reinforces that this is now a scramble for the crumbs.