[masonic]

>The first Japanese Shinkansen train went over budget by 100%, but nobody remembers that anymore. Instead they talk about how wonderful the Shinkansen trains are.

HSR is at 300% of original budget without even a credible schedule for completion of that original plan -or- source of funding.

Long-distance "high speed" rail is going nowhere in CA without constraints on air travel, especially short-hop flights, that includes taxation for environmental consequences. Nobody flying the Bay Area or Sacramento - L.A. corridor is going to spend 4X as much to spend double the time in transit.

[onphonenow]

Yeah, the routing is weirdish - the opening date keeps getting pushed back (full route promised by 2020, we may not see first segment till 2029!) cost is going to be in 1b/year range. They are projecting 9 million riders on the Bakersfield segment, will be an interesting proof point if they can deliver that (Amtrak service use on nearby routes was declining for years ore pandemic).

I do wonder if for 100 billion we could have done automated bus or cargo lanes - or even just tried a few interesting ideas out.

The ballot summary was literally written by the ballot authors to avoid a more neutral party writing it