California High Speed Rail Thread

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by electricron

All throughout its history CHSR cost estimations included inflation with its cost estimations. As of last year, they were estimating costs in 2030 dollars, not in 2024 dollars, when they were also discussing a possible 2033 completion date and initial operating segment service initiation.

So when inflation is above the estimates, the budget will have to be adjusted by increasing estimates and is that set in stone for 2030? Construction will still continue regardless of the Feds pulling money?

Never-the-less, estimation costs have always included standard inflation rates.
So the inflation excuse fails.

It still can increase estimates, which is what people are furious about, unless there's an estimate of those estimates? Do they include tariffs?

[eltodesukane]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

My perfectly reasonable observation a few days ago got deleted because it was apparantly too CE.

What mean CE?

[Busy Bee]

Current Events

[202_Cyclist]

California High-Speed Rail looks to downsize massive Merced station

Merced Sun-Star
By Erik Galicia
May 3, 2025


“The California High-Speed Rail Authority plans to downsize its massive Central Valley stations, including the Merced station, in an attempt to narrow the project’s focus on only building infrastructure essential for Central Valley service.

Margaret Cederoth, the project’s director of planning and sustainability, told the authority’s Board of Directors on Thursday that staff have spent the last six months “taking a very close look at all the requirements for the system.”

They found that previous track alignment configurations — including the number of tracks within a station — yielded a “station size that was a little bit oversized for what we needed for the first several decades of operation…”

https://amp.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/article305599326.html

[edale]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

California High-Speed Rail looks to downsize massive Merced station

Merced Sun-Star
By Erik Galicia
May 3, 2025


“The California High-Speed Rail Authority plans to downsize its massive Central Valley stations, including the Merced station, in an attempt to narrow the project’s focus on only building infrastructure essential for Central Valley service.

Margaret Cederoth, the project’s director of planning and sustainability, told the authority’s Board of Directors on Thursday that staff have spent the last six months “taking a very close look at all the requirements for the system.”

They found that previous track alignment configurations — including the number of tracks within a station — yielded a “station size that was a little bit oversized for what we needed for the first several decades of operation…”

https://amp.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/article305599326.html

Are they saying/admitting that HSR will be operating only in the Central Valley for several decades...?

[202_Cyclist]

No, I read it as it won’t be extended to Sacramento any time soon, which isn’t a surprise to anyone.

[Busy Bee]

I don't have a problem with right-sizing when it's appropriate, but this sounds an awful lot like a case of pennywise and pound foolish.

[urban_encounter]

I believe the CHSRA will have to take a new bond back to the voters.

[urban_encounter]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

No, I read it as it won’t be extended to Sacramento any time soon, which isn’t a surprise to anyone.

Which is why I voted against it. They were deliberately misleading.

If they were to insure reliable rail service to the Bay Area and the San Joaquin, I wouldn’t care about HSR.

[urban_encounter]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Obviously he is passing the buck. I suspect that what they're planning to do is team with Nevada/Brightline so that it's not just "California" lobbying for federal $'s to build the tunneled approach to LA. They're going to wait and wait and wait until they get it for pretty close to free. The Pacheco Pass Tunnel can't play the same game since there won't be an interlined service coming in from Nevada.

Ohio and Kentucky lobbied Bush, Obama, Trump, and then Biden to get a new I-75 bridge over the Ohio River paid for pretty much entirely by the federal government. The formal effort began in 2001 and they just started preliminary construction work in 2024. So no fewer than 23 years.

Yes and Mayor Bass has been lobbying the state to help L.A. with its deficit.
It’s going to be worse during the Olympics. The rest of the State paying for upgraded LA infrastructure.

[sopas ej]

From Newsweek:

California High-Speed Rail Reveals New Plan To Save Project

Published Jul 08, 2025 at 12:07 PM EDT

The California High-Speed Rail project, long beset by rising costs, delays, and political conflict, revealed a new plan led by its recently appointed CEO, Ian Choudri, that relies on $1 billion in annual state funding combined with private capital to help keep the project afloat.

Choudri, who took charge of the High-Speed Rail Authority in August, explained during an interview at a transportation conference in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, emphasizing the potential of public-private partnerships to move the rail initiative forward.

While the construction of the California high-speed rail advances across the Central Valley, it has faced growing doubts from the federal government.

[...]

[sopas ej]

I figured it was gonna eventually happen with that son-of-a-bitch in the White House:

Trump administration pulls $4B in federal funding for California's high-speed rail

FRESNO, Calif. -- U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has announced the Federal Railroad Administration will terminate approximately $4 billion in federal funding for California's High Speed Rail.

It comes a month after the Trump Administration threatened to pull funding as part of a 315-page report released by the Department of Transportation.

"Thanks to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again," President Donald Trump wrote in part on his social media platform, Truth Social.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

I figured it was gonna eventually happen with that son-of-a-bitch in the White House:

Trump administration pulls $4B in federal funding for California's high-speed rail

Yeah, this was a done deal the minute the fascist regime sent Duffy to Union Station for a photo op. He got shouted down for a good reason.

[Busy Bee]

This was a done deal the minute the incredibly foolish American public put that abomination back in the White House.

[LAsam]

What does this mean for the project? A lot of the funding comes from the state, right? Does this just further extend the timeframe for completion?

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

This was a done deal the minute the incredibly foolish American public put that abomination back in the White House.

No, this project and everything else in the state is a target because its governor has presidential ambitions.

[ardecila]

Yeah, there's not much political incentive to do these big megaprojects because it's impossible to get them done in a timely fashion. It takes decades. Any politician who first promises such a project will be out of office, or dead, before the project is ever completed.

Even in the Central Valley where a lot of heavy civil work has been completed, they still haven't even started trackwork, stations, traction power, signals, rolling stock, or a yard/maintenance depot. On the flip side, if the project is cancelled they now have a great roadbed for a new 4-lane freeway...

[Bonsai Tree]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

No, this project and everything else in the state is a target because its governor has presidential ambitions.

Lmao. You're funny. Newsom became Governor in 2019. Trump's first term started in 2017. Here's a NY Times article from 2018 about his opposition to it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/us/california-high-speed-rail.html

But I'm sure you knew this already and just chose to willfully ignore reality.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by Bonsai Tree

Lmao. You're funny.

When it comes to infrastructure projects, there are three types of politicians:

a)the booster
b)the can-kicker
c)the obstructionist


Jerry Brown was a booster. Newsom is a can-kicker. Trump is an obstructionist.

A city only gets a booster mayor and a state only gets a booster governor when that person has no higher aspirations.

[mr1138]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

When it comes to infrastructure projects, there are three types of politicians:

a)the booster
b)the can-kicker
c)the obstructionist


Jerry Brown was a booster. Newsom is a can-kicker. Trump is an obstructionist.

A city only gets a booster mayor and a state only gets a booster governor when that person has no higher aspirations.

Very well put - I think this is exactly correct. Newsom has never acted as though he cared all that much about this project - he just has a duty to oversee it as the current governor. It was never his project.

And I think you are exactly right that idealists tend to be people more interested in their ideals than in themselves. These are people who say things like "you need to be willing to loose your next election to do the right thing." We need more politicians like this.