Don's Home Places California High Speed Rail
 
Under Construction

Plagued by delays, California high-speed rail back in court | The Sacramento Bee Feb., 2016
California High Speed Rail Authority - State of California

Summary:

What: 
Nation's first true high-speed rail system
220-mph high-speed trains
San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2 hours 40 minutes.
22 stations

Where:
  Phase 1 San Francisco to Los Angeles 520 miles
  Phase 2 Add Sacramento and San Diego Total 800 miles
  
When:
Construction began in 2015
First service 2022
Phase 1 complete 2029
Phase 2 no timetable as of 2016

How Much:
Phase 1 - 68.4 Billion (The most expensive public works project
                         in United States history.)

Why:
California's population will grow by 60 percent over the next 40 years
Experts estimate that without high-speed rail, California will need
  as much as $171 billion for an additional 2,300 lane-miles of highways,
  4 runways, and 115 airline gates to meet the state's transportation needs.
It is projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3 million tons per year.
Problems:
- Eight years after they approved funding for it, construction is years behind schedule and legal, financial and logistical delays plague the $68 billion project.
- As of Feb. 2016 they have just 63 percent of the parcels needed for the first 29 miles in the Central Valley.
- A lawsuit was filed by residents whose property lies in its path, which is slowing things down and putting $2.5 billion in federal stimulus funds in jeopardy.
- Attorneys for a group of Central Valley farmers will argue in Sacramento County Superior Court on Feb 11th 2016 that the state can't keep the promises it made to voters in 2008 about the travel times and system cost. Voters authorized selling $9.9 billion in bonds for a project that was supposed to cost $40 billion.

last updated 1 Feb 2016