Surprise! California’s High Speed Rail Breaks Major Promise in New Plan
19th February 2016
Leaked documents show that the California high speed rail is reversing course—quite literally—and changing construction plans on the first 250-mile stretch of track. The new plan will now connect the Central Valley to the Bay Area—not Los Angeles as originally planned.
After all, who would want to go to Los Angeles?
News of the route change comes in the same week consultants projected a $260 million increase in additional costs for the first 22-mile leg of construction—which amounts to a five percent increase in price for a project that has yet to lay a single foot of track.
Your tax dollars at work.
California Assemblyman David Hadley (R-South Bay) told local radio station KFI 640 AM that the new route potentially goes against a provision in the high speed rail legislation that says the train must first connect to Los Angeles. He stated the language was added to ensure Southern Californians didn’t foot the bill for a train that could very well end up becoming a regional transportation project.
Which appears to be exactly what is happening. But when did government employees ever worry about following the law?
The route change is only the latest in a line of broken promises made by the California rail authority. Voters approved the project with a $33 billion price tag—that has since doubled to $68 billion and could go even higher. Construction is already over two years behind schedule and the state has still not disclosed how they plan to raise the $53 billion in additional funds to complete the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco track.
Promises? We don’t need no stinkin’ promises….
The sad part is that the problems with the high speed rail project were entirely predictable.
And predicted. But nobody ever listens when it comes to spending taxpayer money.