SACRAMENTO, CA (KMJ) – The California High Speed Rail Authority releases its updated business plan.
The High Speed Rail Authority’s May 2019 Project Update report says costs *could* increase by $1.8 billion bringing total to $12.4 billion for the 119-mile central valley segment alone.
High-Speed Rail’s project update report to the California State Legislature states that increase would bring the total projected budget to nearly $80 billion.
Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) made the following statement:
“This report and this project is nothing more than a shell game. The Chief Operating Officer of the project is on the record saying the tracks from Merced to Bakersfield will be slow speed trains on “plain rail.” Today they are promising it will be high-speed. They continue to make it up as they go along and I don’t trust the High Speed Rail Authority any more.
This report says the goal is to move Amtrak onto the high-speed rail track and let them operate it with a whole lot of government subsidy in an effort get around the Prop 1A bond language. They have no other options because they know perfectly well they will need subsidies to operate but the bond language is very clear that this is forbidden.
“It’s time for the Governor to halt any more funding for this project. The bottom line is this project is running out of money and they know it. Between now and whenever that last dollar is spent, they will continue to make up fantasies in an attempt to fool us all.”
Click to listen to the report by KMJ’s Clint Olivier:
