“If it is built, California’s High-Speed Rail would be the largest public works project in state history. That fact alone appears to be intoxicating to state officials, in a perpetual quest to have California be the first state to do anything,” I reported in 2011. That’s how long California’s High Speed Rail has served only as a jobs program and a really bad joke on California voters and taxpayers.
“Even though high-speed rail has become nothing more than a pipeline project for grabbing big money and a big lie, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the rail bill Wednesday, sealing California’s economic fate. Because of the illegitimacy of the project’s intent, California taxpayers will be left holding the bill.”
I wrote that in 2012. Since then, the only thing that has changed is California Governor Gavin Newsom is now responsible for this High Speed Swindle.
The bill Brown signed in 2012 authorized $5.8 billion to start construction of only one high-speed rail line in the Central Valley, and included $2.6 billion in state rail bond funds, along with $3.2 billion in federal funds.
“But California will have to borrow every dime of that state money to build the high-speed boondoggle.”
“And that’s the only federal funding the state will receive for the entire $68-$135 billion project. The newest revised business plan claims to have reduced the cost of the project to $68 billion from $98.6 billion by expanding the 130-mile line from Fresno to Bakersfield, to Merced to San Fernando Valley, for a 300-mile segment. But many economists and rail experts project that the project could cost as much as $135 billion.”
This could have been written today but it wasn’t – this also is from 2012.
“Voters were deceived by the original ballot summary and language in Proposition 1A from 2008, but the state’s lawmakers seem to find that fact inconvenient. And, the entire project is lacking in private, public and debt funding to complete even the most minor operating segment.”
And in 2012, only 4 years after passage of Proposition 1A which authorized HSR, polls showed that voters wanted a re-do, and would have voted to kill high-speed rail if given the chance.
As I explained in 2012, the governor, legislators and the High Speed Rail Authority were (and still are) violating the law:
Prop. 1A states, “The high-speed train system shall be planned and constructed in a manner that minimizes urban sprawl and impacts on the natural environment.” But the impact of the rail system may actually create suburban communities around train stations within reasonable distances from urban areas and higher employment areas.
The train system will dissect both urban and rural communities which will be problematic, as well as a serious violation of the “natural environment.” The trains will travel through densely populated cities, but also through sensitive agricultural and natural areas in the state.
Other areas of the high-speed rail law are being violated as well:
* The California High-Speed Rail Authority must have all of the the funding ahead of time, before any construction starts on a new segment.
* The high-speed train system must operate on its own entirely, and in the black. That means operating profitably, and includes caveats of no government subsidy. The plan relies heavily on a projection of 100 million users by 2030, a notion that was created with manipulated data, and is absurd.
* Prop. 1A stipulates 11 requirements that must be met before funds can be released for the construction of a “corridor” or “usable segment.” Specifically, some of these requirements include actual high-speed train service, ridership, revenue projections and planned passenger service.
* The success of any legitimate transportation system must be based on connectivity. “For each corridor described in subdivision (b), passengers shall have the capability of traveling from any station on that corridor to any other station on that corridor without being required to change trains,” the law states. “Stations shall be located in areas with good access to local mass transit or other modes of transportation.” This means that, unless there are extensive connecting rail systems already in place in the high-speed rail destinations, cab companies, limo services and car rental companies should be lining up to rent space in the train stations. Commuters will not have the necessary train and bus systems to transfer to with the existing plan.
The law also calls for certified EIR’s for each segment of the system. Instead of dealing with the environmental issues, Brown tried to suspend the California Environmental Quality Act guidelines for the project. But that move brought about several lawsuits, which have held up important parts of the entire project.
In 2013, I reported U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein’s husband Richard Blum, won the first phase construction contract for California’s high-speed rail.
In February 2019, President Trump called for California to return all federal rail funding, following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s state of the state address where the Governor vowed to kill High Speed Rail saying, “there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to LA.” However, Newsom flipped on his promise within the week, announcing he was allowing one odd segment of the rail project to be built in the Central Valley, which I call “the conjugal express,” going from prison to prison, Madera to Bakersfield. The goal for the strange and unnecessary rail line was so California would not have to return $3.5 billion to the federal government.
Globe contributor Thomas Buckley tells us “the California High Speed Rail Authority now has a sustainability consultant” with Arup. “Arup announced a three-year, $11.7 million contract earlier this month (it is also working on Central Valley station construction) and is tasked with handling ‘renewable energy modeling and procurement, climate change adaptation and resilience, setting sustainable design criteria, managing greenhouse gas and air quality emissions, carbon offsetting, and sustainability reporting.’”
If you thought the high speed rail swindle was going nowhere after 15 years of taxpayer funding without an operational train, this latest boondoggle contract must be payola – it really serves no other purpose other than to provide jobs and salaries to green totalitarians, courtesy of the California taxpayers.
What a swindle.
In “California’s Electric High Speed Rail: No Power, No Money, No ‘High Speed,’” we speculated if the high-speed trains will be powered by windmills, solar panels, cooking oil and algae since California’s electricity grid can’t even power the state on a hot day reliably without asking electric car owners to please refrain from plugging in.
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What Voters Approved in 2008
California voters approved Proposition 1A in 2008, the “Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century.” Here are some details:
* $33.5 billion cost. They approved a total cost of $33.5 billion for a high-speed rail system. The $33.5 billion was to be made up of a combination of 1/3 federal funds, 1/3 state funds and 1/3 private funds. Importantly, the investment from California taxpayers was limited to a $9.95 billion bond.
* S.F. to L.A. Voters approved a system connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles, with a trip time of two hours and 40 minutes, at a cost of $55 per ticket. But the plan has veered sharply inland from San Francisco to Los Angeles, over to the Central Valley, with a leg from Fresno to Bakersfield. And the cost of the trip jumped to $105.
* Ridership: 95 million. Even ridership numbers have been toyed with. Voters were told that there would be a ridership of 95 million passengers by 2030. Ridership estimates have decreased nearly three times since 2008, and they are still absurdly inflated. In the new report, they’re estimated to be as high as 36 million passengers by 2060 (page 5-17). That’s about a third of the Prop. 1A promise.
* Bond repayment. Repaying high-speed rail bonds will cost the state’s General Fund $647 million per year for 30 years, or approximately $20 billion for the $9.95 billion bond.
View Comments (58)
So to avoid returning money to the federal government they ritually put on an orange vest turn over a shovel full of dirt to prove they are still working on it.
Sometimes the jokes write themselves...
Perhaps if the federal government gave more funding to the project it could get built faster. Also I find it interesting that you people complain about the cost of this project when the US spends $70 billion a year on just the interstate highway system. All so we can get in our metal cubes with wheels to drive and then scream when we inevitably sit in traffic for hours on end. Whatever the cost may be let's get that high speed train built so we can actually have infrastructure to be proud of. An efficient HSR will cut the amount of required flights between Nocal and Socal, since people will realize it's actually faster to take a train than go to the airport and wait around to get on a flight. Oh but wait, the people who frequent this website probably wish to defend the airlines because of course you do. You people need to get real.
You must be joking. If not you obviously have a few fingers in this boondoggle pie.
Awkward question: How much water was stolen from Central Valley farms for all of those o-so-valuable HSR concrete structures? I bet it was millions of acre-feet.
"All so we can get in our metal cubes with wheels to drive and then scream when we inevitably sit in traffic for hours on end." Navigation apps (developed by the private sector) can help driver of cars (private sector) choose efficient paths to avoid traffic jams. Thank you private sector!
"..since people will realize it’s actually faster to take a train than go to the airport and wait around to get on a flight." Prove it with facts and data. Cite your source, while you're at it.
"An efficient HSR will cut the amount of required flights between Nocal and Socal..." HSR is an overpriced solution that caters to people too indecisive to choose between san fran and Socal. Oops, sorry - I forgot that people in frisco dislike the term san fran.
"Oh but wait, the people who frequent this website probably wish to defend the airlines because of course you do." No, we value individual personal responsibility as opposed to seeking government-run programs to handle personal decisions.
Joe - it's NOT a high speed rail!! The democrats removed the high speed requirement years ago. It's no different than your basic Amtrak line. And if the Democrats really cared about the environment or traffic, which they don't, they would have just run the line along Interstate 5 where there is already space and land. Instead they chose a different route to increase the costs, make sure it never gets built and pocket billions from taxpayers. You may be gullible enough to believe the Democrat propaganda but fortunately most of us here can see right through it!!
you've ruined the country. are you happy?
By comparison the Golden Gate Bridge was built ahead of schedule and under budget. But that was when most Californians were able to fart and walk at the same time.
Fed Up , funny but , the toll for the Golden Gate bridge was supposed to be temporary wasn't it! Only until the cost of the bridge was covered. Where are we now close to $10?
Great article and such sharply stinging flashbacks. Ouch! Katy Grimes certainly manages to refresh us on this 15 YEAR OLD government obscenity. Sounds like fiction but it's TRUE. So glad she can pull up the stuff she wrote 12 YEARS AGO, during what seemed like Halcyon Days compared to now; articles that are just as FRESH as if they were written yesterday. A good place to start digging up anew this criminal enterprise of the High Speed Rail to Nowhere union slush fund boondoggle. Without those decade-plus articles, and the subsequent Globe coverage of this illegal money-making mess, Californians might have forgotten all about it, especially considering the bombardment of nightmare crises that have been brought to us since then by the Usual Dem/Marxist Politicians and Govt Suspects.
So much dirty money, so much lawlessness, and nothing, NOTHING of value produced.
Did these crooks ever even INTEND to build high-speed rail in the first place or was it a purposeful con-job from the start?
A lot of people, politicians and bureaucrats and the rest of 'em, should be locked away NOW for what they have done. Instead, one is the governor of California and another is lolling away his retirement years on lovely northern California ranch acreage without a care. And by the way, if anyone still wonders how Richard Blum and his wife Dianne Feinstein became so wealthy, they can start to understand it by reading this article.
What a disgusting clique of elites they all are, our Ruling Class. And for what? Every last one of them inevitably grows old and feeble and infirm and brain-damaged as we all do and they certainly don't live forever ---- have you noticed? It will happen to the most puffed-up, arrogant, and narcissistic of them and there is no escaping it.
1. What ever happened to the billions state voters agreed to pour into "stem cell" research. Any benefits yet?
2. What ever happened to the billions of tax dollars state voters agreed to pour into the Mental Health Services Act. Any benefits yet?
3. What ever happened to the billions of dollars state voters agreed to pour into First Five preschooling. Any benefits yet?
Is any California voter initiative not just one ore more Democrat party slush fund?
Check that cash flow.
Another question is how about those 5 initiatives CA voted on around 2008-2015 for WATER STORAGE?!! it did nothing but raise taxes and fees
Uh oh, Orwellianism, you and Jaye have really opened up a can of worms now!
$$Billions$$ thrown for years and years at homeless/vagrancy for the sole purpose of feeding the increasingly ravenous Homeless Industrial Complex monster?
Half the state budget automatically dumped into the public schools, just so that CA can achieve #49 of the list of 50 WORST states in education outcomes? That's a lot of money to insure illiteracy. (But as an amusing friend once said, "at least they won't be able to read the LGBTQ books.") Never mind that, as everyone here knows, the current ambition of CA state "leadership" for the public schools, if they are not there already, is to become indoctrination centers to force-feed kids racism, gender hogwash, and pornography of every imaginable type? Apparently in hopes of confusing them and ruining their lives forever?
ShowAndTell -- “at least they won’t be able to read the LGBTQ books.”
-- Democrats solved that by allowing those books to have ILLUSTRATIONS in the form of how-to's
You're so right, Orwellianism. I thought of that AFTER I commented. :)
Now they don't NEED to read! Ugh
What happened to the laws against exposing children to sexually explicit materials? There used to be state and federal laws protecting children. The people allowing these books in school libraries are guilty of these laws. The school boards are accomplices. Where is the FBI or local law enforcement? They are supposed to arrest the perverts grooming our children.
Where is the lottery money going? Our parks and schools certainly haven't benefited from lottery sales. Where are the taxes on recreational marijuana sales going? The billions in revenues disappear year after year.
Climate Change sucks up billions, but the climate is not changing. I've been a resident of the San Joaquin Valley for most of my 54 years on this earth. The summers aren't hotter or dryer. The winters are the same except there are fewer foggy days. Proof of the past climate history is easily found online in newspaper archives. They say each summer is hotter than the last. Here are facts proving otherwise:
1. The record high temperature in the city I live in is 115°F, set in1933.
2. The highest temperature so far this summer is recorded at 105°F. They lie to us about temperatures in real time and we believe them.
3. Tulare Lake has reappeared in the 1950s, 1960s, for 3 years in the 1980s and in the 1990s.
4. In 1906 there were 53 consecutive days with temperatures of 100°F or more.
5. In the 1960s, the National Guard and the Army Reserves were called into service to sandbag in the Sacramento River Delta and other flooding rivers throughout the valley. They also rescued many from the flooding and helped people evacuate.
A little time and a few clicks prove the lies. The corrupt California Government has no shame when bilking tax payer money.
Well, we DO have those nanny-state television ads admonishing US to "SAVE WATER"...
The Luddites whine as progress encroaches upon them. 😔
Spoken like someone who is on the receiving end of Train to Nowhere slush fund cash.
Fun fact: trains are 19th century technology.
LOL!
So progress takes 15 years with nothing to show for it ! All the while ripping families from their homes! Sure that is progress! By what standards?
All the while those who are considered conservatives would actually like to conserve the land, conserve water resources, conserve family homes, conserve farms.
I guess that would be considered too dangerous by the so called progressives.
After another 15 billion more dollars spent maybe we will get that “high speed” train that goes from Bakersfield to Modesto !
After all that is a big corporate commute area (eye roll)😏 that is in high demand!
Correction.
It will now only get as far north as Madera. That is progress.
By any other name it would be called a boondoggle!
Thank you so much for bringing into attention again this joke of High Speed Rail. My home is in the "right of way" area to be taken from me for the rail to nowhere, along with countless other homes and businesses. We received several notices of taking our homes starting this year 2023. It's unbelievable to me that California can actually do this, just another cash cow for the elites of this joke of a state.
This project no longer even closely resembles what voters approved back in 2008. It MUST be put to a vote again as a “new” project. Knowing there is no firm completion date, no reliable final cost estimate or a funding source, put it to a vote again. If it’s approved, build it.
You get the government you deserve
Terrible state management. unreal what Mr newsome has done to the Valley. older couple I know died pushed out of their home from yrs. and guess what state calls the back year later see if they wanted to buy back. state decided a different direction to go!!!!!!!!!!! UNREAL SERIOUS WHOS DOING THE CHECK BOOK? Sick of this..BAD MANAGEMENT..WANT TO MOVE!!!!!