By Carl Nolte, San Francisco Chronicle; June 29, 2019
It has been one of those great California dreams — a train whisking travelers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two hours and 40 minutes. The trains would go faster than a speeding bullet — 220 mph. Just like trains in advanced countries in Europe or Asia. Even Uzbekistan has high-speed rail.
But it is only a California dream. There were planning problems, legal problems. The cost doubled to $77.3 billion. “Let’s level about the high-speed rail,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in his first state-of-the-state speech. “Let’s be real. The current project as planned would cost too much and, respectfully, would take too long.”