Is Obama's rail initiative a 'train to nowhere'?
High-speed train plan draws little enthusiasm as California costs soar
President Barack Obama's high-speed rail initiative is in danger of turning intothe Big Engine That Couldn't.
As part of the economic stimulus plan of 2009, Obama pushed through more than $8 billion in initial funding to extend high-speed intercity rail service to 10 major U.S. rail corridors by 2034. The idea is to create superfast rail service — like Japan's futuristic bullet trains — that would be available to 80 percent of the U.S. population.
A quarter of that money — a little more than $2 billion — went to California, where voters in 2008 approved a plan to build a 220-mph line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The California High Speed Rail Authority promised voters that the line would open in 2020, at an overall price of about $33 billion.
Since then, not a single segment of track has been laid and not a single station has opened.
That 2020 ribbon-cutting? It's now projected to be no earlier than 2033 — at least 13 years late. That $33 billion price tag? It's been recalculated at $98.5 billion — nearly three times the original estimate.
The news came from the state's High Speed Rail Authority, which issued an updated "business plan" (.pdf) last week at the direction of California Gov. Jerry Brown. The good news, said Tom Umberg, chairman of the authority, is that "we understand the project better." The bad news is that "as time goes by, things get more expensive."
An msnbc.com-NBC News special report
Alex Johnson is a reporter for msnbc.com. The following NBC stations contributed to this report: KCRA of Sacramento, Calif.; KGET of Bakersfield, Calif.; KNTV of San Francisco; and WTLV of Jacksonville, Fla.
Actual construction must begin by next October or federal funding, which has grown to nearly $4.7 billion, goes away. Republicans in the Legislature want to give sticker-shocked voters a chance to change their minds by holding another referendum next year, warning that California shouldn't risk starting construction only to have future appropriations dry up.
Allow liberals run this country and this is what happens.
