California voters were scammed by high speed rail

[ripcord]

Californians passed a $9 billion ballot initiative for high speed rail, the requirements were that it travel a minimum of 200 miles an hour, go between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 2 hours 40 minutes and be fully self sustaining, the original time frame was 10 years. 14 years and $5 billion later and not a single mile of track has been laid, the project has been trimmed down from 500 miles from S.F. to L.A. to 176 miles between small cities in the central valley, there is no real time frame for the project to finish, the last estimate I saw was 2033 the projected cost has gone up to over $95 billion and is projected to continue to increase. It will not go 200 miles an hour because they have had to decrease the speeds in some areas, it won't go from S.F. to L.A. much less in 2 hours 40 minutes and with the cost overruns and area it is now servicing there is no way it will be self sustaining, this is nothing like what the voters approved in 2008.

[dalton99a]

1. The consultants need a trillion to complete another feasibility study

And another trillion for environmental impact before breaking ground

[Bobstandard]

2. Luddites win again!

It was a great idea but the folks who would even be against Eisenhower’s national highway system have put so many roadblocks in the way it won’t get done. Japan, France, Italy, China can do it but not us. Luckily climate change isn’t happening so we can always rely on air travel to get us places fast

[ripcord]

5. California put its own roadblocks up

They aren't going through anything that every other building project in the state doesn't goes through. It was doomed to failure from the start, this is why despite assurances from high speed rail supporters of billions of dollars coming in from private investment they didn't get a single dollar, private companies have to produce in a timely fashion.

[Bobstandard]

8. That's a weird mix of arguments

Whatever.

[JohnSJ]

3. Newsom in 2019 put the brakes on it because of its complexity. Now it is in limbo

https://calmatters.org/politics/2022/05/california-high-speed-rail-standoff/

[Takket]

4. that 5 billion went somewhere...........

[brooklynite]

7. So you're blaming the Democratic Governor and his DOT of not managing the project?

[brooklynite]

6. SCAM (noun)...

"a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; swindle."

Where's the evidence that this was a fraudulent proposal, rather than unexpected cost overruns?

[MenloParque]

9. I knew this was gonna get messy when the SF-LA

Train started to have stop planned in Bakersfield, Fresno, and Modesto. Once the Central Valley started crying ‘what about us’ then the wheels started to come off this project.

[hunter]

13. Interstate 5 bypassed those cities and they did not forget.

This had a huge negative impact on traveler services along the 99.

[Volaris]

16. Isn't the CV the half of the state that didn't wanna pay for it, in the first place?

[Initech]

10. I'm shocked! SHOCKED! Well... not that shocked.

[TheFarseer]

11. I saw somewhere that the cost

Per mile of track was 7 times the cost of a similar project in France. How the F is that possible?

[hunter]

12. USA! USA! The "can't do" nation.

Can't have universal health care.

Can't stop gun violence.

Can't build modern railroads.

Can't educate our children.

Can't maintain existing infrastructure.

Can't house the homeless.

Can't keep the lights on.

The list goes on...

The Spanish contractors on this project quit in disgust.

[Voltaire2]

15. We are exceptionally bad at being a developed nation.

At this point the only thing we are exceptionally good at is blowing shit up.

[AlexSFCA]

14. public transit should always exempt from environmental studies

[madville]

17. Brown kept forcing it along, Newsome doesn't seem that into it

Newsome doesn’t seem particularly interested in it, the costs and red tape will continue to snowball long after he’s gone without much progress. It could easily take the rest of the decade to settle all the litigation related to easements and eminent domain.

[msongs]

18. the original plan was hijacked and rerouted. more $ for contractors and unions and others

who see rail as the golden goose that should never end.

it was supposed to go up the west side of the valley with few if any stops but got turned into a local commuter rail project for cities on the east side of the valley, as mentioned in other posts.

[honest.abe]

19. The 9 billion was never expected to be the full cost.

There were supposed to be federal matching funds plus all big transit project always go over projected cost. However this one is way over. I suspect it will get built eventually.. there is too much money already invested.