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‘California’: A Synonym for Dysfunction
My favorite part of this story is how the French company hired to help build California’s High-Speed Choo-Choo ultimately quit in frustration. Essentially, they said, “California, your government is too corrupt and dysfunctional, so we’re going to work with an African country instead.”
The even better part; the African high-speed train was completed in 2018. California’s project might get done near the end of this century, if it gets done at all.
California voters were sold on and voted to approve a $33 billion high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Once the measure was approved, politicians immediately threw that plan aside in favor of a vastly more expensive plan to route the plan through their districts so they could grease their cronies.
When California voters first approved a bond issue for the project in 2008, the rail line was to be completed by 2020, and its cost seemed astronomical at the time — $33 billion — but it was still considered worthwhile as an alternative to the state’s endless web of freeways and the carbon emissions generated in one of the nation’s busiest air corridors.
Fourteen years later, construction is now underway on part of a 171-mile “starter” line connecting a few cities in the middle of California, which has been promised for 2030. But few expect it to make that goal.
Meanwhile, costs have continued to escalate. When the California High-Speed Rail Authority issued its new 2022 draft business plan in February, it estimated an ultimate cost as high as $105 billion. Less than three months later, the “final plan” raised the estimate to $113 billion.
“There were so many things that went wrong,” Mr. McNamara said. “SNCF was very angry. They told the state they were leaving for North Africa, which was less politically dysfunctional. They went to Morocco and helped them build a rail system.”
Morocco’s bullet train started service in 2018.
Morocco’s high-speed rail line connects Casablanca and Tangier, a distance of roughly 200 miles. It was completed in ten years.
Contrast California’s absolute state of dysfunction with how Ron DeSantis got that bridge rebuilt in three days and 98 percent of power restored within five days after a Category 4 hurricane.
Published in General
Same thing about the left and socialism. It is a European (continental) thing and so it must be better.
Rails work in Tokyo and New York City. They’re being destroyed in New York because Democrats want to embrace criminals, or whatever the reasons are for the insanity. Rails work where cars can’t, giant old pre auto cities. Still, even where rails work, they have to be highly subsidized. Maybe big old highly dense cities no longer make sense. While one party wants to centralize everything, the other party doesn’t know what it wants. Perhaps economic reality has surpassed both.
Simple. Trains are collective.
They’re trains-sexual.
I voted against this thing.
My question was then: what problem are we trying to solve?
Still waiting for my answer.
The problem of Gavin Newsom needing more money to spend at fancy restaurants?
This was Jerry Brown’s wet dream.
He had many sensible moments after being mayor of Oakland.
This was not one of them.
At least he always smiles, and never frowns.
Is anyone else disgusted that Congress is so lazy that they continue to allow presidents to have this much power? I don’t care who the president is or of which party, no single person should have the power to decide if dozens of billions of dollars will or won’t be spent.
Alex Jones has entered the chat.
And as Zevon said: “…and his hair was perfect.”
Not a hair out of place. His slacks have a nice crease, too.
Actually, upon further review, I misquoted the lyrics. “His aura smiles and never frowns.”