Roelof van Ark, high-speed rail CEO, resigns
The chief executive driving California's increasingly troubled campaign to build a high-speed rail system resigned Thursday, casting even greater uncertainty on the future of the $98 billion project.
Roelof van Ark, hired to lead the California High-Speed Rail Authority in May 2010, announced his resignation about four hours into an authority board meeting in Los Angeles.
"The time has come to focus myself more on my family and other interests," he said, citing the delivery of "an honest and realistic business plan," the award of $3.7 billion in federal funds and the scheduled start of construction on a 130-mile stretch of rail in the San Joaquin Valley this fall as accomplishments.
Van Ark's resignation was not the only change in the authority leadership announced Thursday. Tom Umberg, chairman of the authority board, said he will step down from that role next month, but remain on the board, and will nominate Dan Richard, former BART director from Oakland, to head the board.
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