Feds Will Audit $3.5 Billion in Grants to California Bullet Train

[timosman]

https://www.kqed.org/news/11662250/u...a-bullet-train

Apr 13, 2018

California's high-speed rail project is facing an audit from the U.S. Department of Transportation as costs continue to climb.

The inspector general's audit, announced Thursday, will examine the Federal Railroad Administration's oversight of nearly $3.5 billion in federal grant money awarded to the project.

It comes as the plan to bring travelers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than three hours faces growing scrutiny.

A business plan released in March shows the state does not have the roughly $30 billion needed to complete the first phase of the project between the Central Valley and San Francisco. The entire project, meanwhile, is expected to cost $77 billion. State auditors are also conducting a review.

The authority's new chief executive, Brian Kelly, has pledged more transparency about the project's troubles.

"We will cooperate fully in this and any other audit of our funding or program," Kelly said in a statement. "We look forward to working closely with our federal partners to deliver the nation's first truly high-speed system."

Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham, a project critic, requested the audit in December, saying taxpayers deserve a "full and honest review" of its finances.

The inspector general's office did not provide a timeline for when the federal audit will be completed.

The federal money awarded to California comes with specific conditions that Kelly has promised to meet. They include completing a 119-mile segment of track now under construction in the Central Valley and finishing environmental reviews for the full line by 2022.

The audit will specifically evaluate how the Federal Railroad Administration determines whether California has complied with federal guidelines.

Auditors will release the results publicly along with recommendations to Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

[Swordsmyth]

Any and all federal money that goes to Kalifornia needs to be scrutinized for an excuse to cut it off.

CALEctomy!

[Pauls' Revere]

Its the magic bullet train! weeee.

[Brian4Liberty]

Without massive eminent domain abuse and demolition of a trillion dollars of real estate, this will never work. Might have more luck building a train to Hawaii...

[timosman]

Its the magic bullet train! weeee.

The bullet that took CA establishment down.

[Pauls' Revere]

The bullet that took CA establishment down.

Yeah, takes it back and to the left,...back and to the left...

[nobody's_hero]

They will build it and like most mass transit systems there will be a few people riding on it and dozens of empty seats. Americans just don't do trains. If you want that, move to Europe.

[oyarde]

It is not possible to have 3 1/2 billion spending in california without graft . The solution is zero dollars .

[acptulsa]

There's no way in hell this thing will ever bring Frisco and LA within three hours of each other. Not via San Bernardino. I'm not sure you can fly that route with an intermediate stop in San Berdoo that fast.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...ayed-%85-Again

If this boondoggle ever gets built at all I'll be shocked. And I'll be more shocked if Washington ever gets their money back.

I also think this thread should be merged with Suz's thread above.

[dannno]

I'm not sure you can fly that route with an intermediate stop in San Berdoo that fast.

You can't do it without a private plane or something, but if you could it would be less than 2 hours.

LAX -> San Bernadino Airport - ~15-20 minutes max (actual flights not available because they are too close)

San Bernadino Airport -> SFO - 1:25

[acptulsa]

You can't do it without a private plane or something (actual flights not available because they are too close)

Well, there you go.

~15-20 minutes max

1:25

Gee, did we get to the gate at San Berdoo? Did we make it to the gate? Or did we just bounce the wheels off the runway, and jump right back up?

Where do we stand if we add a stop at Fresno?

Somebody seems to be missing the point here. This boondoggle goes too far out of the way and makes too many stops to ever run between the bay and LA in three hours. Even if they introduce a nonstop service, that San BerDetour--over Tehachapi--will likely make it impossible.

And I think they know that. Which means they're purposely lying to people.

This boondoggle is very likely to break that state. And that's not just wishful thinking.

Edit: Had to refresh my memory. This system doesn't run San Bernardino "on the way" from San Francisco to LA. It gets as close as Bakersfield, then cuts back to the coast. It runs San Bernardino "on the way" from LA to San Diego--a run the current route (the former Santa Fe Railway "Surfline") runs direct. That one is not only going to be unable to outrun airplanes, it won't even be able to outrun the Santa Fe's best historical schedule.

This boondoggle is going to break that state.