By Thaddeus Miller, The Fresno Bee; February 21, 2020
About a year after California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state would focus on a high-speed rail track from Merced to Bakersfield, Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, is proposing new funding to connect the train to its original destinations.
After years of planning to run the train from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Newsom said in his first State of the State address in 2019 that the plan was too grand for the money on hand. Merced-to-Bakersfield has been touted by the state High-Speed Rail Authority to be its first operational segment by 2028-29.