California’s Dream there is a high-speed train system linking the northern and southern parts of the state becomes less and less realistic each year. Now 15 years after voters initially approved the initial bond for trains, a new report from Palm Springs Store desert sun Shows a single section of the high-speed train goes over budget. Like 10 billion dollars over budget.
Back in 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom revealed a plan for the state’s bullet train system. Construction will be divided into segments, starting with a 171-mile stretch through the state’s Central Valley. With a date set to start operations in 2030, the cost of going out is about $22.8 billion. California may have a lot of money living within its borders, but even the state has paused with that bill. And that was in 2019.
So when a new report/update released this month shown by the California High Speed Railroad Authority amazing fact that The cost of the 171-mile section now it will be very expensive 35 billion dollars — $10 billion over the project’s budget – again, the state hesitated. What’s worse is that this single segment accounts for about a third of the entire plan distance, now costs more than the original estimate for whole system 500 miles. In 2008, when voters approved the railroad bond measure, the cost to connect a 500-mile distance would be about 33 billion USD.
Today, the entire 500-mile system would cost a total of 128 billion USD. That price tag left state officials scratch your head to pray for that $100 billion funding gap. All of this gets better because that price tag doesn’t include two other system segments that haven’t been accounted for. There are segments planned that will link Orange County, specifically Anaheim, with Palmdale. But the cost for that part won’t be known until the railway agency carries out an environmental assessment.
There were other factors that contributed to the project that put it in jeopardy. The Speaker and Kevin McCarthy, a native of Bakersfield, have opposed the project for years. “The federal government should not allocate another dollar to California’s inefficient high-speed rail in any way, form, or form.” he said in a statement to Cal Matters. Technical experts say there are also unresolved technical risks Think of it as a tunnel in the mountains. There is also the issue of relocating underground utilities along the route (with a total of more than 2,800 smaller structures. project to complete) needs to be completed before the route can be built.
A new date of operation is slated for 2033, but even that date continues to be pushed up as California struggles to find Financial support, schedule planning and it hurts post-pandemic population declines, that’s not slowing down yet. With fewer reasons and system justifications, perhaps California just needs to accept that this project was never meant to happen.
