California's Bullet Train Hurtles Towards a Multibillion-Dollar Overrun (latimes.com)

schwit1 quotes the Los Angeles Times: California's bullet train could cost taxpayers 50% more than estimated — as much as $3.6 billion more. And that's just for the first 118 miles through the Central Valley, which was supposed to be the easiest part of the route between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A confidential Federal Railroad Administration risk analysis, obtained by the Times, projects that building bridges, viaducts, trenches and track from Merced to Shafter, just north of Bakersfield, could cost $9.5 billion to $10 billion, compared with the original budget of $6.4 billion.

The federal document outlines far-reaching management problems: significant delays in environmental planning, lags in processing invoices for federal grants and continuing failures to acquire needed property. The California High-Speed Rail Authority originally anticipated completing the Central Valley track by this year, but the federal risk analysis estimates that that won't happen until 2024, placing the project seven years behind schedule.
The whole project is expected to cost more than $68 billion.

Comments

Re: Coast Starlight

[jcr]

Tell you what, sparky: if you think that you can operate Amtrak on a break-even or better financial basis, then talk to some investment bankers, take it over, and see if you're right. I wouldn't give you a dime, but if you take it private, I won't have to anymore.

-jcr

Re:There will be no train

[ooloorie]

And I bet you have some proof or explanation about why they are "misleading".

I do, but not one that someone as narrow minded, bigoted, and economically illiterate as you would understand.