We hate to be a broken record on this, but the saga of California’s high-speed rail project never ends.
According to reporting by KCRA 3’s Ashley Zavala, the latest news on the project is that it’s billions short on funding that must be secured in order to complete the segment linking Bakersfield and Merced without further delays.
“There is no specific plan to meet that roughly $7 billion gap, we also think there is some risk that gap could grow,” Helen Kerstein of the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office told the Assembly. “This isn’t a way out in the future funding gap. This is a pretty immediate funding gap.”
The context of this news also came as the High-Speed Rail Authority submitted what Zavala described as an “incomplete project update,” which is remarkable considering this project should have been completed years ago and we’re still seeing those in charge trip over themselves.
“We have no plan, we have a good likelihood it’s going to get worse, and we have a short time to solve the problem,” said Assemblyman Steven Bennett, D-Ventura in response to all of this.
In February, the Office of the Inspector General released a report with the reassuring title, “Merced to Bakersfield Segment: The Authority Is Unlikely to Complete the Segment as Currently Envisioned within Its Planned Schedule.”
The report notes that while the California High Speed Rail Authority initially aimed for completing this initial segment by December 2030 in its 2023 plan, “the Authority’s current schedule has now pushed the target date for completing the M-B segment back from the end of 2030 to the end of 2031.”
And, again, this is just for that segment. Voters who approved the initial bond for the project thought they’d have a high-speed rail project linking Los Angeles and San Francisco by now. Now they’re lucky if they get a Bakersfield to Merced line by 2031.
Of course, one can be as charitable toward the bullet train as possible and still recognize the thing is a flop.
Yes, major projects often have cost overruns and delays. Yes, it’s a bold project.
Sure, sure. But all of this has been done at the expense of other considerations. It’s time for this thing to be put to rest.
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