CA High-Speed Rail Cost Explodes to $231 Billion, From Original $33 Billion

[Dante]

No, I'm not referring to y'alls favorite leader guy. He did kill 6 million jews so he would be very popular with dems now but I'm referring to the constant slobbering over mass transit from libs.

The Painter Was a Stable Genius

 

[ColonelAngus]

Newsom would be SUCH AN AMAZING POTUS!!!!

Maybe we can make him POTUS FOR LIFE!!

Video: 2006: Gavin Newsom storms off after grilled about underage girlfriend drinking | Daily Mail Online

Resurfaced 2006 interview of Gavin Newsom storming off after he is grilled about his underage girlfriend drinking alcohol.

www.dailymail.com

Gavin Newsom losing his temper goes viral after California governor, then 38, is grilled about giving booze to his NINETEEN-year-old girlfriend

 

[Thinker101]

An accounting is long past due.

Hold on, Newsom has been a counting all the grift for years.

 

[ColonelAngus]

I wonder how much Newsom and his pals got from the project.

Massive government projects like that are perfect for stealing money.

 

[Papageorgio]

Has anyone here got any proof of corruption?

Actually has anyone here got any proof that any politician was even at major fault for this overrun?

This the cost of a country that has little experience in high rail infrastructure getting involved in a major project... This is a major learning curve, they probably shouldn't have taken on such a big project as their first try...

Can I also point out :
Still cheaper per mile than the TxDOT highway expansion in Houston.
But we see no Democrats here screaming about corruption...
Truth is this is large projects...It estimated first off way too low...

Here is the reasons we got:


A bunch of reasons, but that been suggested:

- Buy America rules restrict the materials that can be used in federally-funded transportation projects, which drives up costs

- the U.S. has a super byzantine environmental permitting process, then on top of that, California has its own statewide permitting process that's even more difficult to navigate, and the two aren't interchangeable so the project had to clear both

- California did not adequately staff the project. They grossly underestimated the number of people it would take to manage this.

- some of the project's alignment runs near freight railroads. Freight railroads are assholes. They will refuse to shut down their lines for even a few hours to allow construction work to happen. They are notoriously awful to work with, and that was the case here; they delayed the project as much as possible.

- there were a lot of lawsuits to try and block the project, some of which stem from the previously mentioned environmental permitting processes

- Property acquisition for transit projects is a pain in the ass; rail and transit operate under different rules from highways that delay them from purchasing property until permitting is done, while highway projects can buy up property while still in permitting. This isn't a legal barrier or anything; departmental staff just won't make the change.

- Government contracts heavily incentivize unrealistic low bids, and it's standard practice to build in contingency for a project to be 20% over budget.

- inflation in construction materials has outpaced regular inflation by a great deal

Buy American for a country that has no experience in this type of build seems a project suicide at this stage. China wouldn't do that, they would get you in, build it, they would try and copy you the next time.

So let me show you example of Buy America Act (federal)... The Contractors on this project are

• Construction Partners: Tutor Perini / Zachry / Parsons (TPZP) serves as the primary design-build contractor for CP1 (Madera to Fresno).
• Subcontractors: Key contributors include Fisk Electric Company, Becho, Inc., and Desert Mechanical Inc..

These are all American companies... This is the high end of high speed rail, something that is alien to US.

If this was done in in the rest of the world it would be either

• CRRC Corporation (China) (by far the largest)
• Siemens (Germany),
• Alstom (France),
• Hitachi (Japan),
• Talgo (Spain)
• Hyundai (South Korea)

So take China out and you see what type the other companies are... They are technology companies primarily...

This isn't about corruption, it is about US coming very late to the table on technology being implemented and used other places in the world. US is way behind on this type of public builds unless roads... Roads will not solve California problems... They have the population density and rail like this would connect their whole state.

Would take prudent advice here... Bring in an experienced contractor e.g. Siemens... Understand the benefit to the state financially of having such an asset. This would allow people to live away from big cities like San Fran and LA and commute in daily (this is huge).

Yes this is expensive, it always will be... But he lesson learnt here will be invaluable

This is not about budget over runs, it is about benefit v cost...

I don’t know if there is corruption however the project has been inefficient $231 billion, 16 years $12 billion spent not one piece of track laid, and still seven years away from completion.

Los Angeles to Las Vegas rail, $21.5 billion to build, started in 2024 and expect completion by 2029. $3.5 billion in federal grants, rest is private investors federal and personal loans.

Seem anytime government is involved it takes longer and cost more.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Not a single train made.

Not a single mile of track laid.


And GelBoi want to bring his corruption nationwide.

The money has been spent on studies, impact reports, permits, and the creation of state offices to administer the feasibility. Burearacy. They can't afford actual track and trains.

 

[Nostra]

Could I ask where is the $230bn coming from, I am getting $135bn online...
This hasn't been spent, this cost estimates...

Again this cheaper per mile than a Highway in Houston...
This is a 776 mile high speed rail system through some of the most populated ares in the US.
Which puts it at 174 million a mile...
Just compare, UK is costing £300m per mile for there high speed rail.
China can build cheap because they don't care about human right, employ rights and health safety is in the toilet...
I have no expectations that this is going to be cheap... the question is the Benefit going outweighs the cost.
First, to help pay for all this, set up stations in the middle of nowhere and buy all the land around it... How do you the TransAmerican railing was paid for back in the day.
Living on the line could mean you commute to either LA, San Fran or Sacramento... LAX I persume would be a stop on the way too.. Amazing what buy thousands of acres can eventually pay for..

Do the numbers properly, serious money not spent yet... But high speed rail is a game changer. Look at France, very few internal flights... Paris to Marseilles 480miles in 3h 08m... Trains very easy to work on not like a plane. No way is faster, take in the time to go from City Center to City Center...

This is about investment... Yep, this one is expensive.. Look at how much UK is willing to spend..

Nobody rides them. They are a money pit for their entire existence.

 

[Nostra]

So you approve this project that has cost over runs of 200 billion dollars, and in 20 years, no rail is installed, because of what France did?

Logic isn’t Teddy’s strong suit.

 

[Nostra]

NY POST is not known to be credible on stories like this

Should be easy to debunk the,
‘Get to debunking, Slim.

 

[Doc7505]

Nothing is the same. The days of Robert Moses, when the government could do what Trump favors "eminent domain takings" are over for projects like this. Comparing it all is like you dopes when you look for equivalencies on everything to excuse MAGA and Trump.

<~~~~~~~~~~>
The original plan in 2008 was to build an eight-hundred-mile highspeed railway to connect the main cities of L.A to San Francsico. and eventually San Diego
Unfortunately, the greenies at CalEPA have seen it differently and politicians have been dipping their beaks into the funds for their own projects, mismanagement, and funding issues has significantly impacted the California high-speed rail project to the point that only 171 miles have been built 18 years.