By Tim Sheehan, The Fresno Bee; January 17, 2018
The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s revelation this week that its expected construction costs in the Central Valley are going up by more than one-third since 2016 is likely to spark questions about what may become of the convoluted and controversial project.
Beset by litigation, delays, cost increases, consistent Republican political opposition, leadership turnover and no small degree of public skepticism, the agency acknowledged that the upward lurch in the predicted cost to build 119 miles bullet-train line from Madera to Bakersfield – from $7.8 billion in 2016 to $10.6 billion now – will only further stoke concerns over whether the ambitious plan to develop and build a system of electric trains connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles/Anaheim by way of the Valley will ever reach fruition.
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