Stop California bullet train, state's top analyst urges

[alp227]

Source: San Jose Mercury News

The state's top analyst on Tuesday urged lawmakers to slam the brakes on California's $68 billion bullet train, cautioning that the newly overhauled plan simply isn't "strong enough" and relies on "highly speculative" funding sources.

The report from the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office is especially significant as the Senate and Assembly on Wednesday begin a debate on whether to start building the high-speed rail line, a decision officials revealed Tuesday will likely be delayed into the summer. The report could give a divided Legislature the political cover it needs to halt the biggest public works project in California history; otherwise, lawmakers would have to go against the advice of their own experts.

It is the latest in a series of stinging critiques on the project by independent watchdog groups. But it's the first analysis since the Brown administration early this month unveiled a scaled-back version of the rail line that was intended to appease critics by trimming the price tag by $30 billion, speeding up the start of service by five years and electrifying the Caltrain line by the end of this decade.

"Our concerns are really legitimate and serious," said Brian Weatherford, the LAO analyst who authored the report. Without a new outpouring of federal funding, "we don't really see how you could get (the money) to build this thing. That's our primary concern."

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_20418167

[msongs]

1. sell shares to the people who claim they will actually ride it. that oughta be enough nt

[Bennyboy]

2. Spend now and cost be damned or..

or spend more on roads and airports etc.

[DJ13]

3. Does the airline industry buy influence in Sacramento?

[alp227]

16. If any, the LAO (CA's version of the CBO) isn't affected.

[xtraxritical]

4. The stupid article does not even say where the trains will run.

[slackmaster]

5. It's good to see a little objective analysis once in a while

[AlbertCat]

6. BUT

it's the first analysis since the Brown administration early this month unveiled a scaled-back version of the rail line that was intended to appease critics by trimming the price tag by $30 billion,


So, after dumbing it down and taking away its budget... it is concluded "that the newly overhauled plan simply isn't "strong enough"


What does one expect?

That seems to be the American Way now. Don't spend enough money and make it half assed. Starve the beast until it dies. No Grand Coulees or interstate highway systems will come out of that. When are we gonna stop pretending we're broke? We're not.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Japan finished its first high-speed line in 1964

(They actually first thought of doing it before World War II.)

In the early 1960s, they were pretty much recovered from the war, but they were still a fairly poor country, and everyone, including the World Bank, told them that high-speed rail was a dumb idea and that they'd receive no money for an "old-fashioned" form of transportation like trains. Instead the World Bank said, it would loan them the money to build a freeway.

So they borrowed the money from their own industrialists.

They have freeways now, but their high-speed rail system is much expanded and world-class, with trains running every five to ten minutes through the major stations and carrying 1/3 of all traffic between the major cities of Tokyo and Osaka.

[XemaSab]

7. I think the money is much better spent on building out local transit

How many people a day would ride BART from Livermore, Santa Rosa, or Vallejo to San Francisco?

Certainly more people than would ride the bullet train from LA.

[slackmaster]

11. Or on beefing up K-12 education

[DRoseDARs]

15. Unless you're suggesting CAs growing pop. rides to work on the backs of grad schoolers like mules...

eom

[ChairmanAgnostic]

18. Use immigrants. Cheaper cost.

Bad snark, baaad baaad snark.

[KamaAina]

12. No contradiction there

some of the high-speed rail money is earmarked for connecting local services.

Also, the barriers to extending BART to the North Bay are formidable indeed -- to wit, the Bay itself. The original BART plan called for service to Marin across the Golden Gate Bridge. Obviously, this never panned out; the upper-level Muni Metro tracks along Market St. in SF were originally intended to carry those trains.

[XemaSab]

13. The Golden Gate had a train on it when it was built

Why not bring the train back?

[slackmaster]

20. Please be careful what you wish for, and be mindful of our history.

[Serve The Servants]

17. SMART is coming to the north bay.

Hey, it's a start.

[allan01]

9. re:Stop California bullet train, state's top analyst urges

This train would run on the valley divison of the bnsf which runs from sacramento to los angles via the great central valley. the one and only corridor would run from modesto ca to madera ca, and even the critics are still livid .
Still smells like gm chrylser and sofurth who object to rail and any mass transit .and also ca like the national repug counter parts are protecting the wealthiest califronians and corperations . sigh. i guess wed love to be stuck in our cars for 8 hours vs 4 whilst riding a shinkansen of our own. ps the japanese get very offended when we call it the bullet train. ( shinkansen is the correct name ( translates into new trunk line)

[bluestateboomer]

10. It's sad.

We have become a country where we can no longer do large community projects. Anyone who had ridden high speed ground transport in other countries can tell you it is the way to travel. We need a more efficient transport system than endless freeways and clogged airports. But I guess even a positive vote by the people is no guarantee for a project these days. I hope that we get the trains built, but I fear the project is going to be torn apart by the nickel and dime naysayers and the political opportunists. It shouldn't shock me. We in California have torn apart many of the public treasures for which were once so justly proud.

Build the damn railroad!

[w4rma]

14. Fully fund it and build the world-class version, not this scaled back limited thing. (nt)

[hack89]

19. Where's the money going to come from?

California can't even fund the bare necessities like pensions, education and health care. Even if they decide to "tax the rich" there won't be enough money.

[4th law of robotics]

21. That is fine in principle

but these guys seem to be doing something very wrong judging by how much this is costing, how long it is taking, and how little is actually being done.

Maybe corruption in the planning phase? Or perhaps just incompetence.

There's nothing wrong with a highspeed rail as a general concept. But the execution in this specific incidence has been horrific.

[Big_Mike]

23. The whole idea regarding HSR is that it serves dense poplation areas.

As such, it is a superb idea for the Northeast, perhaps extending as far west as Pittsburg and south to D.C. Beyond that, it just does not make economic sense.

Examine the reports coming from Spain and China. The economic reality is simple: this is a VERY expensive system to put into operation and as much more to keep in operation.

AFA California is concerned, the ridership levels quoted in the plan before this one (which I haven't read yet, but will when time becomes available) called for more daily riders through Merced than the total population of the city. The reports flat out lied and assumed the absolutely best cases to support HSR. They polled TRAIN RIDERS whether they would ride the HSR and used that percentage to determine ridership numbers. Throw in that the "neutral" analyst who made the report is the mentor of one of the senior personnel in the California HSR Commission, and it gets even worse.

Use HSR where it makes sense, not where it does not.

[bluestateboomer]

22. Another Opinion

Mike Rossi: High-speed rail's latest plan answers the financial questions



[link:http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_20417728/mike-rossi-high-speed-rails-latest-plan-answers|

[Rhiannon12866]

24. First Supertrain, now this...

[happerbolic]

25. are we a country that...

...can really think this big...?

sorry Rachel - I guess we have our answer.

we've let ourselves become so pathetic. was it something added in our water supply? more like something added to the religious sermons.