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[CNJRoss]

RT&S, 7/1/22

 

High-speed rail in Calif. will finally receive $4.2B, but future funding is murky

 

 

It’s always good to have someone of authority holding the money bag.

 

After a long delay, California lawmakers finally released $4.2 billion in funding for the state’s high-speed rail project. The funding was passed by voters in 2008. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill on June 30. However, as a trade out for the cash, an inspector general will be created for the high-speed rail project, which has experienced delays and cost overruns.

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Forbes via MSN.com, 7/16/22

 

California Bullet Train Gets $4.2 Billion Green Light For First Phase While Bigger Challenges Loom

 

 

In a breakthrough for the country’s most expensive public infrastructure project, California’s bullet train finally appears to have the money and the legal approval to complete its first leg. What remains a challenge is how to link that initial 171-mile route through the state’s Central Valley agricultural heartland to population centers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose—and how its designers will overcome California’s mountainous terrain and seismic risks.

 

State legislators agreed last month to release $4.2 billion earmarked for the train’s first phase, between midsize cities Bakersfield, Fresno and Merced. The project may also benefit from more than $2 billion of federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds set aside for passenger rail. Extending service to the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles would boost the amount of track to 500 miles and the train’s total price tag to as much as $105 billion. That’s far above an initial estimate of about $40 billion when California voters approved a $10 billion bond measure to help build it in 2008.

 

“It’s not an easy task to build a system like this,” said Brian Kelly, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. “It’s a tough slog, but it’s one worth doing.”

 

 

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