Divergent views on high-speed rail in California

The California governor’s decision to significantly reduce the planned bullet-train system has opened a debate about the future of what was touted to be the first highspeed rail network in the United States.

In his first State of the State address on Feb 12., Governor Gavin Newsom vowed not to abandon the project. “Abandoning high-speed rail entirely means we will have wasted billions of dollars with nothing but broken promises and lawsuits to show for it,” he said.

“And by the way, I am not interested in sending $3.5 billion in federal funding that was allocated to this project back to (President) Donald Trump,” he added.

The Democratic governor said the state has the capacity to complete the rail line from Merced to Bakersfield. The estimated cost of building the 119 miles of track in the Central Valley is $10.6 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“We will continue our regional projects north and south. Finish Phase 1 environmental work. Connect the Central Valley to other parts of the state,” Newsom said.

Newsom has not yet responded to the Tuesday announcement from the federal Department of Transportation, canceling $929 million in federal grants to the California slated for the rail project. It is also seeking the return of $2.5 billion in funds previously granted for the project.

Back in 2009, when Barack Obama was president, California was selected to obtain $2.25 billion in federal funding for a 400-mile (644-kilometer) connection between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

In 2008, California voters approved an additional $10 billion in bonds for the system. The cost of the project was estimated at $33 billion but has now ballooned to more than $77 billion.

Newsom’s selection of the Central Valley for the first leg of the rail project was welcomed in the heavily agricultural area which lacks mass public transit. “We feel that this time the governor is giving us our fair share and recognizes the importance of the agricultural industry in central California,” said Manuel Alvarado, president and CEO of the Greater Merced Chamber of Commerce

“If somebody from Bakersfield wants to go to the (San Francisco) Bay Area, they can take high-speed rail to Merced, transfer to the Altamont Corridor Express to go to the northern part of San Joaquin Valley, then eventually into the Bay Area,” he said.

But Paul Dyson, president of the Rail Passenger Association of California and Nevada, a nonprofit that has been promoting passenger rail since 1977, had reservations. He supports the high-speed rail system, but said construction should start in the densely populated Los Angeles area. He also said it’s not clear what the governor’s intentions are.

“It’s rather ambiguous. He seemed to say he is still in favor of high-speed rail and wants to at least complete a part of the project. But he makes a very strong statement that he thought it was too expensive and that it would take too long,” Dyson said.

James Moore, an engineering professor at the University of Southern California who researches transportation projects, said the governor’s decision to focus on the Merced-to-Bakersfield leg was “a very dramatic change in the scope of the project”.

Moore said. “The final costs for construction would be much higher than $77 billion, even if we perfectly manage the project from this point forward,” he said. “Part of the problem is that we simply don’t have funding resources in hand to finish the project.” Moore said it’s unlikely that the federal government will provide more funding.