This is what I have been trying to tell you. Watch what's going on in Washington. That's where the decisive action will be regarding high-speed rail.
I gather this was written by Carolyn Lochead who uses the term "futuristic" in her first sentence. That suggests she has not been a close student of this project. What is intended to be built is anything but futuristic. It's a retrograde version of high speed rail in Europe and Asia. What will be in operation by the time the California project gets rolling -- if ever -- will be forty years behind China and Europe's technology. We are certainly not cutting edge technologically with rail in general and high-speed rail in particular.
Lochead says, in her article that, ". . .California has already collected nearly $4 billion in federal money. . ." I don't know if that's true. Did the federal ARRA stimulus funds awarded to California already arrive in the State Treasury? Or are they a federal commitment if and when CHSRA meets its required deadlines?
Her final sentence rings true. High-speed rail certainly is ". . . about to come under sustained attack."
And it's about time!
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San Francisco Chronicle: Politics Blog
Republicans target high-speed rail for cuts
California's hugely ambitious and futuristic high-speed rail project will be front and center of the coming showdown between President Obama and House Republicans who are hell-bent on cutting domestic spending.
Obama's State of the Union address tomorrow, 6 p.m. PST, will lay out his plan to protect "investment" spending from the GOP axe: specifically infrastructure, energy, education and R&D. He is drawing directly from the Clinton playbook, defining spending as investment and focusing on key areas around a competitiveness theme. (Clinton's mantra was protecting Medicare, Medicaid, education and the environment.)
House Republicans, for their part, sound a lot like the Gingrich GOP of 1995. They see the problem as too much government spending interfering with the private sector. The conservative Republican Study Committee proposed a list of $2.5 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years. Rail projects are near the top: the RSC would eliminate Amtrak subsidies and all inter-city and high-speed rail grants.
Bankrupt California has already collected nearly $4 billion in federal money for a project that is expected to cost at least $42 billion (critics predict that will double). Approved by voters in 2008, the project would link San Francisco and Sacramento with Los Angeles and San Diego via the Central Valley. The first link between Bakersfield and Fresno is supposed to break ground in 2012.
Wikipedia
California High Speed Rail Project
Fearing a costly boondoggle, Wisconsin and Ohio rejected federal funds, half of which were redirected to California, rescuing the original link from Madera to Corcoran from "train to nowhere" ridicule. Rail is a big bet in California, and after two years of federal largesse, it's about to come under sustained attack.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=81592#ixzz1C1BL3beR
