President Trump vows to investigate California’s bullet train boondoggle to nowhere in all that spare time he must have.
President Trump said on Tuesday that he would personally investigate the high-speed train sucking up billions of dollars.
“The train that’s being built between Los Angeles and San Francisco is the worst-managed project I think I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some of the worst,” Trump told reporters, asserting that the project is “billions and billions” of dollars over budget.
“We’re going to start a big investigation of that because I’ve never seen anything like it,” he added. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it. The worst overruns that there have ever been in the history of our country.”
24 Hours Before, They Said They Can’t Meet the Schedule!
-
The Importance of Prayer: How a Christian Gold Company Stands Out by Defending Americans’ Retirement
Cal Matters notes that Trump’s remarks came just 24 hours after the project’s inspector general, Benjamin Belnap, issued a sharply worded report on the first phase of what is envisioned as a statewide system.
He said it’s unlikely that the High-Speed Rail Authority can meet its current goal of beginning passenger service between Merced and Bakersfield by 2033.
“With a smaller remaining schedule envelope and the potential for significant uncertainty and risk during subsequent phases of the project, staying within the 2033 schedule envelope is unlikely,” Belnap wrote. “In fact, uncertainty about some parts of the project has increased as the authority has recently made decisions that deviated from the procurement and funding strategies that were part of its plans for staying on schedule.”
Next, you need to know that the train to nowhere goes from farms to a prison.
“It’s insanity,” says Thomas Finkbiner of the Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver. “People won’t drive to a train to go someplace. If you are going to drive, why not drive all the way and leave when you want?”
The train is nowhere near L.A. OR San Francisco as originally planned — it was supposed to link north and south California. It is in the rural central valley, and not getting out any time soon.
We’re Not Nowhere – It’s Just Almost No One Comes Here
The first segment built is in the middle of farmland. It may be the only section to be built due to costs. The first 58 miles of track ends in a small town where half the residents are in prison. It goes from south of Merced to north of Bakersfield in the Central Valley.
California’s high-speed rail to nowhere is a 7-hour ‘slog’ of transfers, ending in a bus ride.
You can get to Folsom prison and see photos of Johnny Cash.
The total project cost of the California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR) is now projected at $113 billion million, and with needed extras, $158 billion. By the decade’s end, they will have completed 164 miles and only completed 117 miles so far. It’s a train to nowhere, but in the future, there will be lots of transfers to conventional trains available, and it will end in a bus ride.
Name a bigger boondoggle than CAHSR. Billions over budget. Decades behind. They don’t even have all of the land secured for the current nowhere-to-nowhere segment. It will take about a hundred years to complete, but it provides union jobs at federal taxpayer expense. Read more at the San Francisco Chronicle.
The San Francisco Examiner detailed the plans (highlight is mine):
In other words, the Merced station will serve as CAHSR’s gateway to Northern California, connecting high-speed trains to conventional trains bound for Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, and other cities across the region. There would also be buses to Yosemite.
Once CAHSR’s initial operating segment in the Central Valley is complete, it will be possible to take a conventional train from the Bay Area or Sacramento to Merced, where you could transfer to a high-speed train. From there, in about 1½ hours, you’d be in Bakersfield.
The situation on the other end of the high-speed line wouldn’t be as smooth, at least not initially. After arriving in Bakersfield, riders would need to take a bus the final two hours to Los Angeles. The drive from Bakersfield to Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo is about 2½ hours.
It would still be a slog, but the introduction of high-speed rail in the Central Valley would cut down considerably on travel time between the Bay Area and Southern California. The train and bus journey from Oakland to Los Angeles, currently about 8 hours and 40 minutes, would decline to about 7 hours with smooth transfers. In addition, trains are expected to run twice as frequently once the initial leg of high-speed rail is up and running.
Subscribe to the Daily Newsletter
wpDiscuz
