Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters: Bullet Train Follies
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 5 years ago on
December 23, 2019

Share

As oft-noted in this space, those in California’s state government — governors, legislators and agency directors — have an unfortunate habit of starting programs and projects that are never fully implemented.
These governmental orphans fall roughly into two categories, those that have some valid rationale and those that don’t.


Dan Walters
Opinion
For instance, applying technology to public services makes perfect conceptual sense, but we’ve lost count on how many “information technology” projects have consumed billions of dollars without delivering the promised benefits of better service delivery and better data.
The latest poster child for half-baked IT projects is FI$Cal, which is supposed to consolidate numerous financial management and reporting systems into one, but has already cost more than $1 billion and shows no signs of working anytime soon.
Using technology still makes sense, but if the state bureaucracy is incapable of implementing it, it’s just money down a rathole.
Speaking of which, many billions of dollars are also going down that dark hole for projects that made no sense in the first place, with the state’s bullet train a prime example.

Building About 100 Miles of Track in the San Joaquin Valley

For decades, a certain segment of California’s population has swooned over the notion of an uber-fast north-south rail system, ala those in Japan, China and Europe. However, advocates never provided a logical rationale, given that traveling up and down California is relatively easy while movement within urban areas is our toughest transportation problem.
Eleven years ago, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other advocates persuaded voters to pass a $9.95 billion bond issue, assuring them that the system could be built for about $40 billion, would attract outside investors, and be operationally self-supporting.
None of that has come to pass. The state’s High-Speed Rail Authority is now more or less building about 100 miles of track in the San Joaquin Valley, using money from bonds and $3.5 billion in federal grants.
In January, a newly inaugurated Gov. Gavin Newsom more or less abandoned the notion of a statewide system, citing lack of money, and then more or less backtracked and said he wanted to slightly lengthen and complete the San Joaquin Valley section.
President Donald Trump’s administration, always on the prowl for ways to ding blue California, then held up nearly $1 billion in grant funds and demanded that money already sent, and partially spent, be returned because the underlying contract had been violated.

Not Enough Money in the Kitty to Do What’s Now Contemplated

Defying federal officials and its own peer review committee, the bullet train board this month decided to solicit bids from three firms to electrify the track now under construction and build a maintenance garage to service the system.

“It is premature for (the rail authority) to undertake another major design-build contract. The current construction packages continue to face significant and continuing delays building the necessary civil construction.” — The Federal Railroad Administration
The Federal Railroad Administration warned the state not to move forward, saying in a letter, “It is premature for (the rail authority) to undertake another major design-build contract. The current construction packages continue to face significant and continuing delays building the necessary civil construction.”
There’s not enough money in the kitty to do what’s now contemplated, and proceeding seems to be a defiant gesture by Newsom, who fancies himself a leader of the anti-Trump “resistance,” and a political wager that Trump will be replaced by a friendly Democrat a year hence.
It also sets up a confrontation with legislators, such as Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, who see the bullet train as a loser and would like to tap the bonds for improving urban commuter service.
Some of the money has already been siphoned away to electrify commuter rail service along the San Francisco Peninsula and Rendon wants a similar allocation for Southern California. That makes much more sense than completing a mini-bullet train to nowhere.
CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
[activecampaign form=31]

DON'T MISS

Musk PAC Tells Philadelphia Judge the $1 Million Sweepstakes Winners Are Not Chosen by Chance

DON'T MISS

Bass’ Record 61-Yard Field Goal Lifts Bills Over Dolphins in Thriller

DON'T MISS

Big Spenders: These Companies Are Giving the Most to California Legislative Candidates

DON'T MISS

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Drifts Ahead of Election Day, While Oil Rises and Yields Sink

DON'T MISS

Saints Fire Head Coach Dennis Allen After Seven-Game Losing Streak

DON'T MISS

Raiders Fire Offensive Coordinator Luke Getsy and 2 Other Offensive Coaches

DON'T MISS

Storm in the Caribbean Is on a Track to Likely Hit Cuba as a Hurricane

DON'T MISS

Israel Ends Agreement With UN Agency Providing Aid in Gaza

DON'T MISS

Demarcus Robinson’s One-Handed Catch in OT Gives Rams Win Over Seahawks

DON'T MISS

Trump, Musk and an American Masculinity Crisis

UP NEXT

Let’s Keep Innovative Partnerships Crucial to Combating Climate Change: Fresno Dairy Manager

UP NEXT

No Matter the Outcome, We Are the True Losers of This Election

UP NEXT

Guns, Marijuana, Gambling: Fresno’s Smoke Shop Enforcement Issues $5M in Citations

UP NEXT

California’s Transition Off Carbon Fuels Could Be a Monumental Disaster

UP NEXT

Don’t Let Liberal Purity Elect Trump

UP NEXT

Newsom Provides Welfare to the Wealthy, Skimps on Anti-Homelessness Programs

UP NEXT

Fresno County to Open New West Annex Jail, Replacing Aging Facility

UP NEXT

Independent Gen Zers Will Decide Elections From Now On

UP NEXT

America’s Political Divide Shifts from Economics to Education: Fareed Zakaria

UP NEXT

Fresno Unified Reform Is a Must. Force It With a ‘No’ on Measure H.

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Drifts Ahead of Election Day, While Oil Rises and Yields Sink

28 mins ago

Saints Fire Head Coach Dennis Allen After Seven-Game Losing Streak

32 mins ago

Raiders Fire Offensive Coordinator Luke Getsy and 2 Other Offensive Coaches

36 mins ago

Storm in the Caribbean Is on a Track to Likely Hit Cuba as a Hurricane

39 mins ago

Israel Ends Agreement With UN Agency Providing Aid in Gaza

44 mins ago

Demarcus Robinson’s One-Handed Catch in OT Gives Rams Win Over Seahawks

1 hour ago

Trump, Musk and an American Masculinity Crisis

1 hour ago

What One Tossup District Says About the Trump-Harris Battle for the Suburbs

1 hour ago

Herbert Shines, Chargers Defense Dominates in Win Over Browns

1 hour ago

US Confirms Reports That Iran Arrested an Iranian-American Citizen

2 hours ago

Musk PAC Tells Philadelphia Judge the $1 Million Sweepstakes Winners Are Not Chosen by Chance

PHILADELPHIA — A lawyer for Elon Musk’s political action committee told a judge in Philadelphia on Monday that so-called “winner...

8 mins ago

8 mins ago

Musk PAC Tells Philadelphia Judge the $1 Million Sweepstakes Winners Are Not Chosen by Chance

14 mins ago

Bass’ Record 61-Yard Field Goal Lifts Bills Over Dolphins in Thriller

28 mins ago

Big Spenders: These Companies Are Giving the Most to California Legislative Candidates

28 mins ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Drifts Ahead of Election Day, While Oil Rises and Yields Sink

32 mins ago

Saints Fire Head Coach Dennis Allen After Seven-Game Losing Streak

Raiders
36 mins ago

Raiders Fire Offensive Coordinator Luke Getsy and 2 Other Offensive Coaches

39 mins ago

Storm in the Caribbean Is on a Track to Likely Hit Cuba as a Hurricane

44 mins ago

Israel Ends Agreement With UN Agency Providing Aid in Gaza

Search

Send this to a friend