December 23, 2010 – Capitol Weekly
The long-awaited, first step of California’s bullet-train program got under way this week – with the help of some new money.
The California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) approved the use of additional federal funding to build the first tracks of the mammoth, $43 billion project to run from Fresno to Bakersfield.
Some $616 million in Recovery Act funds – redirected from states that decided to scrap their high-speed rail ambitions – could make the project a more politically viable prospect. The project has come under fire as a “boondoggle” by critics, who question the expense and routing of the proposed system.
Initial plans approved by the authority charted a 63-mile span between the tiny towns of Borden and Corcoran, drawing fierce criticism for failing to connect any of the state’s major population centers.
This latest move, which will connect the Valley’s two largest cities along the inaugural 123 miles of track, could mark a shift in the project’s initial phase, dubbed the “high-speed train to nowhere.”
“It was a bad move to have a line between two cities nobody knows,” said state Sen. Bob Huff, chair of the Republican caucus. “To have the rail line go from Fresno to Bakersfield, at least that is from somewhere to somewhere.”
But many are chafing at the idea of starting in the Central Valley at all.
