Technically, California’s San Joaquin Valley – the drainage plain of the San Joaquin River – begins a few miles south of Sacramento and ends a few miles south of Fresno. However, in political and economic terms, it stretches even further south to the Tehachapi Mountains, south of Bakersfield. The 300-mile-long...
Walters: It's Time to Derail the Train to Nowhere
Gov. Gavin Newsom came close this month to abandoning the state’s misbegotten bullet train project that’s already cost many billions of dollars and demonstrates no signs of becoming viable. “Let’s be real,” Newsom told legislators in his first State of the State address. “The project as currently planned would cost...
Border Wall, Bullet Train: California vs. Trump Escalates
SACRAMENTO — Disputes over President Donald Trump's border wall and California's bullet train are intensifying the feud between the White House and the nation's most populous state. The Trump administration says it plans to cancel or claw back $3.5 billion in federal dollars allocated to California's high-speed rail project. It's...
Walters: Newsom Downgrades Brown's Pet Projects
When Gavin Newsom was running for governor last year, he adopted “courage for a change” as his slogan. It could be – and was – interpreted two ways: that he wanted to change the direction of California, or that he was disparaging outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown’s reluctance to confront the...
Newsom: Bullet Train Will Only Go Through Valley
SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday he's abandoning a plan to build a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, a project with an estimated cost that has ballooned to $77 billion. "Let's be real," Newsom said in his first State of the State address. "The...
California and Texas Aren't Enemies. They're the USA's Future.
Think about the great rivalries involving California. San Francisco vs. Los Angeles. California vs. President Donald Trump. And, of course, California vs. Texas. If there wasn't a Golden State-Longhorn State rivalry before, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry created one — and got a rise out of Gov. Jerry Brown — by...
High-Speed Rail CEO: People Will Ask How They Lived Without It
High-speed rail will reduce travel times between major California cities. That is the belief of the bullet-train authority’s CEO Brian P. Kelly, who spoke in Fresno on Friday (Sept. 7). He said when the rail is built, for example, it will cut the time from San Francisco to Los Angeles...
Board Approves California Bullet Train's 2018 Business Plan
SACRAMENTO — The board tasked with overseeing California's ambitious high-speed rail project approved a new business plan Tuesday and pledged to keep pushing forward even as the plan faces stark financial challenges. "We are going to deliver high-speed rail for the people of California," board chairman Dan Richard said. At...
It’s Full Speed Ahead for Texas Bullet Train
The Texas Bullet Train got a big boost recently with a federal environmental report that pushes forward the North Texas-to-Houston passenger line. This state-of-the-art, high-speed train will provide an eco-friendly option for traveling between two commercial powerhouses. The Federal Railroad Administration’s draft environmental impact study said the project is being...
Bullet Train Leader is 'OK' With a Do-Over Vote
Dan Richard, the longtime chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, told a Bay Area newspaper columnist Thursday that he is "OK" with allowing voters a second say on the controversial, budget-busting bullet-train project. "I actually would be OK with that," Richard told Richard Borenstein, a columnist and editorial page editor...