The only speedy thing about California’s controversial High Speed Rail Project is how fast costs are rising.
15 years ago, California voters approved a $9 billion bond to fund the 500-mile electrified system linking Northern and Southern California.
On Thursday, the HSR Authority Board announced the estimated cost now stands at a whopping $128 billion. And we’re still years away from travelers take a ride from Bakersfield to Merced, much less Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Despite the repeated delays and snafus Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer is still bullish about it’s future. At a recent luncheon hosted by the Maddy Institute Dyer said “It is big. To have the first high speed rail station in the nation right here in downtown Fresno, we want it to be the envy of the nation – and it will be. I think when the tracks are laid in 2025, you’re going to see a whole lot of excitement in downtown Fresno .”
Dan Richard chaired the California High-Speed Rail Authority from 2011 to 2019. He told KTVU “I think it’s, without question, gonna be harder, take longer, and be more expensive.”
In an op-ed for Cal Matters earlier this year, the former President of Californians For High Speed Rail Robert Cruickshank wrote “The evidence is clear that California should finish the job and complete the high-speed rail service between SF and L.A. Yes, the cost has increased but the project remains more affordable than expanding airports or freeways. Its carbon emissions reductions will be essential to achieving the state’s climate goals.”
In the coming weeks, the California High-Speed Rail Authority is expected to begin receiving proposals from manufacturers to demonstrate their capacity to produce the trains.
