Posts Tagged ‘high speed rail’

Bullet Train Rolls On to $98.1 Billion Overall Cost Estimate


Tuesday March 13th, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 3:45am PDT   •   3 Comments

As we noted in January, costs for Jerry Brown’s vaunted high-speed rail project jumped by $2.8 billion to $10.6 billion, just for the stretch from Madera to Bakersfield. “It’s horrifying when you look at the amount of money we’re going to have to reinvest to make this program work,” exclaimed bullet-train board member Ernest…
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Another $2.8 Billion Boards Bullet-Train Boondoggle


Wednesday January 17th, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 8:39am PST   •   4 Comments

“A slew of delays and higher-than-expected costs are driving the anticipated price of high-speed rail construction in the central San Joaquin Valley by more than one-third, to about $10.6 billion,” writes Tim Sheehan in the Fresno Bee. “That’s a $2.8 billion jump from the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s estimate in 2016 of $7.8 billion…
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What President Trump Should Know about California’s Bullet Train


Friday February 10th, 2017   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:00am PST   •   0 Comments

In his State of the State address, California governor Jerry Brown went off on President Trump with unusual fury, but he also extended an olive branch of sorts. California has “roads, tunnels and railroads” that the president “could help us with,” Brown said, and that will “create good-paying American jobs.” Before he gets on…
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Costing Out Governor’s Tunnel Vision


Wednesday August 24th, 2016   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 3:49pm PDT   •   2 Comments

As we noted, California’s vaunted high-speed rail project will require 35 miles of tunnels through the mountains north of Los Angeles. Governor Jerry Brown, a backer of the bullet train, also has tunnel vision for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Brown wants to dig 35 miles of tunnels to convey water to the State Water…
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Government Rail Switches Tracks on Taxpayers


Monday February 22nd, 2016   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 12:48pm PST   •   1 Comment

We have been keeping track of California’s so-called high-speed rail project, backed by governor Jerry Brown and facing huge problems. As in Blazing Saddles, one thing stands in the way of the land they need: the rightful owners. The farmers, in particular, are not eager to sell. The project will supposedly cost $68 billion,…
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Bullet Train Has Costly Tunnel Vision


Monday October 26th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 8:52am PDT   •   6 Comments

We have been keeping track of California’s bullet train boondoggle, or as some call it, a “Browndoggle” after governor Jerry Brown. He backs the train and wants to dig two massive tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta at an estimated cost of $25 billion. Now taxpayers learn that the bullet train also has…
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Bullet Train Is Slow-Speed Boondoggle


Wednesday June 17th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:51am PDT   •   2 Comments

We have been keeping track, so to speak, of California’s vaunted “Bullet Train,” officially the state’s High-Speed Rail project. But as it turns out, “high speed” is something of a misnomer, as William Bigelow notes on Breitbart. The first actual construction on the project is a viaduct over the Fresno River, nowhere near the…
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Bullet Train Boondoggle Breaks Ground


Wednesday January 14th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 5:37am PST   •   4 Comments

“The California High-Speed Rail Authority expects that millions among the traveling public will want to ride its sleek, 220-mph bullet trains between the Bay Area and the Los Angeles Basin when the system starts running in the early 2020s,” explains Tim Sheehan in the Fresno Bee. But when the project, launched with a 2008…
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Feds Back Bullet Train Boondoggle


Monday December 22nd, 2014   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 5:06am PST   •   2 Comments

California’s vaunted $68 billion “bullet train” is a big hit with politicians eager as always to spend taxpayers’ money. The bullet train, however, will be slower and more expensive than air travel, and in a high-tech state few if any commuters are panting for an essentially 19th century form of transportation. Sold as a…
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Bullet Train Bags Big Bucks


Wednesday June 18th, 2014   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 7:05am PDT   •   1 Comment

As we have noted, California’s vaunted $68 billion “bullet train” is unpopular with taxpayers but a big hit with politicians, always eager for a new place to spend. So no surprise that the train to nowhere has already succeeded in bulking up government. Last year California’s High-Speed Rail Authority nearly tripled its staff to…
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