The Speedy East
Here’s the change over a 14-year timespan. I won’t even bother producing a map of the California High Speed Rail, originally approved in 2008 without a single mile of track ready.
Search Results for: high speed rail
Still De-railed
Five years ago, I did a piece about the fiasco here in California known as high speed rail. I am very confident that it’ll never, ever get complete, although tens of billions of taxpayer dollars will be thrown away on it. Fast-forwarding to the present day, nothing has changed since I did my post half a decade ago.
Derailed
I’m a libertarian at heart, and as such, I believe that, with few exceptions, pretty much the worst entity to handle any task is a government body. Therefore, over a decade ago, when Californians were sold a pipe dream about a high-speed rail (HSR) that would whisk them from San Francisco to Disneyland in just 2.5 hours, I rolled my eyes.
I didn’t keep my eye-rolling private. Five years ago, in this post, I mentioned the HSR project:
The Gravy Train Derails…………..Evil Plan 43.0 (by BDI)
Back from Europe, I had a very tranquil time with some of my extended french family over the past two weeks. Bretagne by the sea is enchanting. The thing that struck me the most while shooting the breeze with my cousins, was the complete disconnect between the serious economic down turn they are now facing, that is expect to get much worse, and the CAC 40 stock market which is on an absolute tare. Something doesn't add up here, and it smells like the stench of rotten fish guts on a Normandy dock.
Off the Tracks
Half a decade ago, I wrote a post declaring that, thank goodness, the ill-conceived High Speed Rail project in California had finally been cancelled, having been approved by voters way, way, way back in 2008. Well, I’m not sure what happened, but the cancellation got cancelled, and they’ve continued throwing billions into this money pit.
As an update, here’s how much is ready to use, 16 years after its approval. The open tracks are in green. If you’re having trouble seeing any green, don’t worry, your vision is fine.
