California Governor Says He's Dropping High-Speed Rail Plan

[Swordsmyth]

California Governor Gavin Newsom is abandoning plans to build a high-speed railroad between Los Angeles and San Francisco, saying the ambitious project that was approved by voters and championed by his predecessor is too costly.
Instead, the state will finish roughly 120 miles of track already under construction in the Central Valley, a mostly rural agricultural region that runs down the spine of the state, Newsom said.
"The project, as currently planned, would cost too much and take too long," Newsom told lawmakers in Sacramento during his first State of the State address. "There’s been too little oversight and not enough transparency."

More at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-12/california-governor-says-he-s-dropping-high-speed-rail-plan

[RonZeplin]

Trapped in the Central Valley on the train to nowhere? No escape from Fresno.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nNOB0Fab14dAzxdhyUB2UEbID4E=/0x0:4722x3296/1200x800/filters:focal(1984x1271:2738x2025)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63042871/AP_18067815414089.0.jpg

[dannno]

Trapped in the Central Valley on the train to nowhere? No escape from Fresno.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nNOB0Fab14dAzxdhyUB2UEbID4E=/0x0:4722x3296/1200x800/filters:focal(1984x1271:2738x2025)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63042871/AP_18067815414089.0.jpg



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKYNMKVDr3s

[Swordsmyth]

Trapped in the Central Valley on the train to nowhere? No escape from Fresno.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nNOB0Fab14dAzxdhyUB2UEbID4E=/0x0:4722x3296/1200x800/filters:focal(1984x1271:2738x2025)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63042871/AP_18067815414089.0.jpg

https://zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com/s3fs-public/styles/teaser_small/public/2019-02/monorail%20crash.png?h=a00bc790&itok=iGg-e-yt

[axiomata]

Hope the funds get transferred for the AOC solar powered train to Hawaii.

[Stratovarious]

So they twisted his arm and demanded he not scrap the project, maintaining 120 miles of track
, train, infrastructure, for this monstrosity of a failure. I
They couldn't just admit failure and kill it.

This 'fail' will cost Ca hundreds of millions in the years to come.
-
Saving face, everyone gets a prize. :facepalm:

[oyarde]

That train will not be the first one that never made it out of Fresno alive .

[Anti Federalist]

https://zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com/s3fs-public/styles/teaser_small/public/2019-02/monorail%20crash.png?h=a00bc790&itok=iGg-e-yt

LOL I owe ya a rep

Lyle Lanley: I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and by gum it put them on the map!

Marge: But Main Street's still all cracked and broken.

Bart: Sorry Mom the mob has spoken.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDOI0cq6GZM

[RJB]

Trapped in the Central Valley on the train to nowhere? No escape from Fresno.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nNOB0Fab14dAzxdhyUB2UEbID4E=/0x0:4722x3296/1200x800/filters:focal(1984x1271:2738x2025)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63042871/AP_18067815414089.0.jpg

That's the train we will take to Hawaii in ten years.

[Anti Federalist]

That's the train we will take to Hawaii in ten years.

Might bring too many people and the island will tip over.

Better not...

[AngryCanadian]

Money for Crimes and Wars but no money or funding for infrastructures.:smirking:
The Leftists leaders have money for pushing radical leftists polices but not for infrastructures go figure.

[Swordsmyth]

Money for Crimes and Wars but no money or funding for infrastructures.:smirking:
The Leftists leaders have money for pushing radical leftists polices but not for infrastructures go figure.
This project was a crime.

[specsaregood]

Hope the funds get transferred for the AOC solar powered train to Hawaii.

In a way that's on target. He knows CA taxpayers are sick of being bilked for it; so he's gonna put it on hold and actively lobby for federal funds to continue the boondoggle. No doubt Pelosi has already promised to tack onto any major bill that has a chance of getting through the house.

[Anti Globalist]

But I was planning on going on that train one day.

[timosman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuOxsRv1gpA

[Pauls' Revere]

So this means the taxpayers will be refunded right?

[Brian4Liberty]

So this means the taxpayers will be refunded right?

LOL.

Can’t find a link, but heard that there was Federal money poured into this boondoggle, and Gavin Newsom says he isn’t giving any of it back.

[shakey1]

LOL I owe ya a rep

Lyle Lanley: I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and by gum it put them on the map!

Marge: But Main Street's still all cracked and broken.

Bart: Sorry Mom the mob has spoken.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDOI0cq6GZM

egg-zactly what i was thinkin'

[euphemia]

But it’s part of The Green Nightmare.

[specsaregood]

LOL.

Can’t find a link, but heard that there was Federal money poured into this boondoggle, and Gavin Newsom says he isn’t giving any of it back.

because he is gonna try to get the feds to finish paying for it, mark my words.

[Zippyjuan]

Not actually dropped but significantly scaled back with the option to expand it in the future left open. (I think the whole thing is a waste of money)

[oyarde]

Not actually dropped but significantly scaled back with the option to expand it in the future left open. (I think the whole thing is a waste of money)

Let me know how it rides and what the beverage selections are like .

[Zippyjuan]

Let me know how it rides and what the beverage selections are like .

Never gonna make it near me or anywhere I care to go.

[Origanalist]

1095857587344551936

[timosman]

The cost was over $100k/yard of rail. :tears:

[oyarde]

Never gonna make it near me or anywhere I care to go.

No late Sat night trips to Bakersfield ? You gotta let loose a little.

[oyarde]

1095857587344551936

Trump is right . Deadbeats need to give it back . I would send those Senators and congressmen to exile in Guam until I got it back .

[timosman]

The cost was over $100k/yard of rail. :tears:

California kills 73% of bullet train, keeps 100% of taxes https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/02/california_kills_73_of_bullettrain_keeps_100_of_ta xes.html


Newsom knows that the California High-Speed Rail Authority's new chief program officer, Roy Hill, cautioned last March in a 114-page "2018 Draft Budget," that the likely "High Case" cost to build the 520-mile bullet train had almost tripled from $33 billion in when voters approved the effort in 2008 to $98.1 billion or about $189 million per mile.

[TheTexan]

too costly

Too costly? What kind of weak shit excuse is that?

When has that excuse ever worked for anyone in government?

[Origanalist]

Trump is right . Deadbeats need to give it back . I would send those Senators and congressmen to exile in Guam until I got it back .

He should charge IRS level penalties and interest.

[Brian4Liberty]

He should charge IRS level penalties and interest.

I’d support that as long as it only applies to people who supported it (voters and politicians). Plus jail time for the politicians.

[Pauls' Revere]

LOL.

Can’t find a link, but heard that there was Federal money poured into this boondoggle, and Gavin Newsom says he isn’t giving any of it back.

Can the Feds sue the State of California? LOL I'd love for that to happen.

[Pauls' Revere]

LOL.

Can’t find a link, but heard that there was Federal money poured into this boondoggle, and Gavin Newsom says he isn’t giving any of it back.

Let's see what happens.

realDonaldTrump Can the FEDS sue California for expenditures to build a train to nowhere?

[timosman]

Let's see what happens.

realDonaldTrump Can the FEDS sue California for expenditures to build a train to nowhere?

The trains should be converted to a permanent exhibition - Good intentions and human stupidity.

[Swordsmyth]

After California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared during his State of the State address earlier this week that he was shelving plans for a costly and controversial high-speed rail project from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Republican lawmakers in the Golden State are calling for a referendum vote on Newsom’s plan to build a similar railway through the state’s Central Valley.
While Newsom, a Democrat, earned a surprising amount of praise from California lawmakers in both Washington and Sacramento for pulling the plug (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-to-pull-plug-on-billion-dollar-bullet-train-cites-ballooning-costs) – at least for now - on the rail project between the state’s two largest urban areas, some are calling his proposal for a high-speed line between Bakersfield and Merced an unnecessary waste of money that voters in the Central Valley don’t want.
“I would support the citizens of the Central Valley putting this up to a vote again,” Shannon Grove, the Republican Minority Leader of the California State Senate, told Fox News. “You can already get from Merced to Bakersfield for $27 on Amtrak.”

More t: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-republicans-call-for-re-do-vote-on-high-speed-rail-project-after-newsoms-bait-and-switch

[Swordsmyth]

https://media2.foxnews.com/BrightCove/694940094001/2019/02/13/694940094001_6001739331001_6001743118001-vs.jpg

[Swordsmyth]

Trump demands California return high-speed rail funds (https://finance.yahoo.com/video/trump-demands-california-return-high-221006512.html)

[Swordsmyth]

The Trump administration is weighing the risk to a “significant” amount of federal funds tied up in California’s high-speed rail project, a Department of Transportation (DOT) spokesperson told The Daily Caller News Foundation Wednesday.The federal government has spent about $3.5 billion in taxpayer money on grants to California to build a high-speed rail train connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles, former Republican California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore said (https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/13/assemblyman-california-wasted-rail-wall/) on Fox News Wednesday. California Gov. Gavin Newsom hinted (https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/12/california-high-speed-rail/) Tuesday during his State of the State address that the project may be scrapped.


“The Department has been in contact with the State of California regarding its high-speed rail project, which has received significant Federal funds. DOT officials remain in contact as they learn more about California’s plans for the project,” a DOT spokesman told TheDCNF in a statement.
“The Department’s Inspector General is continuing to conduct an audit of funding for . As the IG noted, continued management attention and strong oversight will remain critical to ensure that Federal funds are not subject to an unacceptable level of risk,” the DOT spokesman said.

More at: https://truepundit.com/payback-dot-is-keeping-a-close-eye-on-how-california-uses-its-federal-funds/

[Pauls' Revere]

Let's see what happens.

realDonaldTrump Can the FEDS sue California for expenditures to build a train to nowhere?

https://www.libertyheadlines.com/trump-california-repay-high-speed-rail/


Donald J. Trump
✔ realDonaldTrump

California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars. They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a “green” disaster!
203K
5:29 PM - Feb 13, 2019

[acptulsa]

After California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared during his State of the State address earlier this week that he was shelving plans for a costly and controversial high-speed rail project from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Republican lawmakers in the Golden State are calling for a referendum vote on Newsom’s plan to build a similar railway through the state’s Central Valley.

Yo. Fox. That's not "a similar railway". That is the very railway in question. He's simply figuring on completing the one segment of it which is half built.

Idiots.

I thought the people on this site quit quoting FauxNews without fact-checking the morons first along about 2011.

[Swordsmyth]

The U.S. Transportation Department announced Tuesday it would attempt to cancel $929 million in federal grant funds for California’s troubled high-speed rail project.
The move marks an escalation in the war between President Trump and California in the days since Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a rethinking of the bullet train project after years of cost overruns.
The Transportation Department also announced it was “actively exploring every legal option to seek the return from California of $2.5 billion in federal funds.” It’s unclear whether it has the legal authority to do so, and California would likely oppose such a move.


More at: https://www.infowars.com/trump-administration-to-cancel-929-million-in-california-high-speed-rail-funding/

[Swordsmyth]

Trump will go nuclear on California, Claw back $2.5 billion based upon breach of contract in not producing high-speed rail. (https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/02/22/trump-to-use-nuclear-option-to-recover-2-5-billion-more-from-californias-failed-high-speed-rail-project-private-sector/)

[timosman]

https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-bullet-plan-challenges-20190303-story.html


MAR 03, 2019

http://www.trbimg.com/img-5c7b3294/turbine/la-1551577742-q3vx7rlqyu-snap-image
An elevated section of California's high-speed rail project under construction in Fresno in 2017.

The California bullet train project will probably run out of money before it can fulfill Gov. Gavin Newsom’s modest plan to build a high-speed operating segment between Bakersfield and Merced, according to a Times analysis of the state rail authority’s financial records.

The governor declared his support for the scaled-back rail plan last month, saying that for the foreseeable future the original goal of a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system would cost too much and had no path forward. Instead, Newsom said, the state did have the “capacity” to build a 171-mile route through the almond orchards, orange groves, vineyards and oil fields of the Central Valley.

But the project faces many challenges, including an investigation by the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation that has been looking at allegations of poorly controlled or improper spending by the California High-Speed Rail Authority in the Central Valley, according to individuals familiar with the probe.

The biggest problem, however, remains a limited pool of money for the complex project.

Newsom did not provide a cost estimate when he announced his plan to focus on a Bakersfield-to-Merced rail line. If no new problems emerge, the cost will run about $16 billion to $18 billion for structures, electrical lines, train stations, signals, a heavy maintenance facility and bullet trains, according to the rail authority’s business plan and technical cost documents. Meanwhile, it can count on roughly $15.1 billion through 2023 to build the Central Valley system, though it could collect more money in later years or the Legislature could increase funding.

A rail authority spokeswoman said the agency believes it has enough money to complete the operating system and will publish a project update in early May that will provide details on its plan.

Over the last decade, the rail authority has blown through original cost estimates, taking the project from $33 billion to at least $77 billion. Within those totals are massive increases for environmental reviews and land acquisition. The rail authority has acknowledged causing delays and paid out tens of millions of dollars in delay claims to construction firms.

Among the most important issues for the project’s future is whether the underlying management problems that caused those increases have been solved. In November, State Auditor Elaine Howle released a scathing audit that found mismanagement had caused billions of dollars in cost increases. The auditor found similar problems in 2010 and 2012, citing lax management and weak oversight.

Interviews with current and former engineers, financial managers, consultants, contractors and executives show that fundamental weaknesses in the organization remain.

“Things are getting worse,” said a manager at the authority’s headquarters. “Every day more and more people are losing hope.”

The manager said regulations that cover state business are routinely bypassed, records are poorly organized, job responsibilities are not delineated and rapid turnover brings in a constant stream of people who need to be trained. Internal surveys in the past have shown pervasive morale problems, a reflection of the desperate condition of the project and the resulting pressure-cooker environment.

A supervisor in the Central Valley said environmental clearances remain open on land that has been turned over to construction firms, a breach of procedure. And more than 200 additional eminent domain actions will be required because some parcels are too small to accommodate the relocation of underground utilities. Getting that much new land threatens additional delays.

A former executive of the engineering firm that handled those designs said in an interview that the problems were identified years ago but that the rail authority and its consultants did not address the issue.

A spokeswoman for the rail authority said that the need for additional parcels is part of the routine give-and-take with its construction contractors and that not every request it makes for more land will be satisfied. The goal, she said, is to minimize land acquisitions. She added that the current land acquisition program is in good condition.

The problems raise the risks that the giant construction job will require more money than the rail authority has in hand over the next several years.

The possibility of insolvency grew sharply when the Federal Railroad Administration said last month it would terminate a $929-million grant to the project and was looking at ways it could recover $2.5 billion in another grant that has already been spent. The federal agency said the rail authority is not making adequate progress to meet a 2022 deadline to complete 119 miles of construction in the Central Valley. Indeed, the rail authority’s own documents show that the Fresno section has a completion date set for this summer even though it is far from finished.

Federal grant administrators are giving the state “an opportunity to respond” before any final action, an FRA spokesman said in a statement Friday.

“However, there is no requirement to provide a hearing or any additional appeal process,” he said. “The FRA Administrator will make the final decision whether to terminate this cooperative agreement based on the totality of the information summarized in the letter to [the rail authority], along with any additional information submitted … by March 5, 2019.”

A powerful rebuttal is expected by California officials any day. Grant experts say the termination is unprecedented, though they give federal officials a good chance of blocking the $929-million grant. They say it is less likely that the Trump administration can claw back the much larger $2.5-billion grant that has already been spent.

The cost and funding for the Bakersfield-to-Merced system are laid out in the rail authority’s lengthy financial and planning documents. The $16-billion to $18-billion cost of the portion includes $10.7 billion of work already underway between Madera and Wasco. The additional cost of building south from Wasco to Bakersfield is $1.9 billion, and north from Madera to Merced is $2.2 billion. Electric trains could cost $1 billion or more, depending on how many are ordered.

Some of the cost assumptions made by the rail authority appear optimistic, including those for the high-voltage electrical system. The Caltrain commuter line in the Bay Area is electrifying 50 miles of track for $2 billion, about six times higher than the per-mile cost assumed by the California High-Speed Rail Authority for the Central Valley bullet train. The Caltrain electrification is more complex than installing lines on new track, but the risks of cost increases run into the billions of dollars, a rail engineer said.

One additional complication is that spending on the project is not steady each year, but reaches a high peak in the middle. Coordinating that spending curve with uncertain revenues could also push up costs.

Meanwhile, the rail authority’s revenues are constrained.

Its funding sources of $15.1 billion through 2023 include $6.8 billion in funds from the $9-billion bond act approved in 2008. It also includes $2.1 billion of the $2.5-billion federal grant (about $400 million went to help cover cost overruns on environmental planning), assuming the Trump administration fails to recoup it. And it will receive about $6.2 billion in proceeds from the sale of carbon emission allowances under the state’s cap-and-trade program.

To be sure, the rail authority could wait until more money arrives through its share of greenhouse gas fees through 2030 — though inflation will eat away at its buying power. Under the prior plan that Newsom junked, the rail authority was going to build a line from the Central Valley to San Jose by 2028. Newsom said that was taking too long. So waiting for billions more in cap-and-trade money to roll in could put the project in the same fix.

It also has long hoped to borrow against future cap-and-trade proceeds, which would require legislation and possible guarantees to investors. Another hope of supporters is that if Democrats take over the White House and Senate in 2021, they would provide additional money and reverse the Trump administration’s grant termination. And costs could be reduced by eliminating electrification and running slower diesel trains on the line or some other restructuring of the program.

Whether a bullet train confined to the Central Valley could operate profitably, which is required under state law, is unproven. An operating plan and ridership projections did not exist when Newsom made his decision and only now are being developed.

“We are eager to meet this challenge and expand the project’s economic impact in the Central Valley,” rail authority Chief Executive Brian Kelly said about Newsom’s new direction.

If the bullet train does reach Merced, it may be able to connect to the Altamont Corridor Express, which runs diesel-powered commuter trains to San Jose. The joint powers board that operates the system has a project to extend the service to Merced.

“There are all kinds of questions that will have to be answered,” one official close to the project said about the Newsom plan, “to convert what nobody thought was a serious proposition into a serious proposition.”

[Swordsmyth]

Trump Administration follows through and pulls $1 billion in high speed rail funding from California. (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-administration-follows-though-on-1b-funding-cut-for-california-high-speed-rail)

[Swordsmyth]

BREAKING: California sues block the Trump administration from cancelling nearly $1B for the high-speed rail project – AP
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 21, 2019 (https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1130893902964285441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)