“ It may take us a little longer than we read to do this ” was the update Dan Richard , chairman of California ’s high - speed rails project , gave state legislators yesterday . But the harebrained infrastructure plan could , shockingly , be less of a cash suck than expected .
The Golden State ’s plan bullet train project , which initiate construction last year , is approximate to be a staggering $ 68 billion , and it is already two years behind schedule . When finished , it ’ll tie in Los Angeles to San Francisco in a non - stop , high - fastness , two - and - a - one-half hr journey . But when execs from the project testify before lawmakers in Los Angeles yesterday , it became clear that nobody really has a good sense for how long it ’s perish to take .
The first stage of the train , Burbank and Merced , call for 300 miles of track , six post , and is supposed to be quick by 2022 . But engineers and geologists said that ’s not enough meter to dig tunnels through 36 naut mi of pile and make high - voltage electric systems .
On top of that , theLos Angeles Times ran a account in Octoberbased on PowerPoints it obtained under the Public Records Act , which said that the already monstrously pricy train could cost an additional $ 9 billion more than expected . Those Department of Commerce hold those estimated increase , which were forecast by the projection ’s main consultant , Parsons Brinckerhoff , the same house that helped work up the New York City tube over 100 age ago , and that ’s work on transportation system projects the earth over .
Moral of the tarradiddle : It ’s still going to be a long prison term before America image the kind of slug trains that jet at 200 to 300 mph , like the 1 in Japan , China , Germany , or France . The timetable for California ’s project is fuzzy at good at this point , which does piddling to dissuade opponents of one of the body politic ’s biggest lightning - rod subject .
Some hoi polloi think the whole affair ’s an economic risk whose noise , grumble , and miles of tracks will ruin their communities . Sentiments like that are being echoed in Texas , where the United States ’ other feasible high - speed rails project is afoot : make a Japanese fastball trainto connect Dallas to Houston .
you may also bet on plenty more things that ’ll decelerate down the process in the hereafter : Debates , protests , backing , statute law , and building . After all , at yesterday ’s auditory sense , one Assemblyman Richard Bloom rightful dubbed the project “ one of the most complex projects not only in the state , but in the nation ’s account . ” He ’s right .
[ Los Angeles Times ]
Californiahigh f number railInfrastructuretransportation
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