There is no justification for the bullet train

Last week, the Trump administration announced it was pulling $4 billion in federal funds for the high-speed rail project. This move was long overdue.

Recall the following:

The high-speed rail project was once pitched to Californians as a project that could cost as little as $33 billion and would link San Francisco and San Diego by 2020.

Supporters of the $9.95 billion bond measure Proposition 1A told voters in 2008 that, “Ten years of study and planning have gone into PREPARING FOR construction, financing, and operation of a California bullet train network modeled on popular, reliable, and successful systems in Europe and Asia. Their record shows that High-Speed Trains deliver, both in service and economy.”

Indeed, Assembly Bill 3034, which placed the bond measure before voters, declared: “It is the intent of the Legislature that the entire high-speed train system shall be constructed as quickly as possible in order to maximize ridership and the mobility of Californians, and that it be completed no later than 2020, and that all phases shall be built in a manner that yields maximum benefit consistent with available revenues.”

Well, here we are, 17 years later, and what we have seen isn’t the product of a well-planned, well-managed effort. What we have is a mess. Whatever the intent of the Legislature and whatever the intent of the bureaucrats, we have only seen failure.

In 2010, the California State Auditor issued a report warning, “High-Speed Rail Authority: It Risks Delays or an Incomplete System Because of Inadequate Planning, Weak Oversight, and Lax Contract Management.”

In 2012, the auditor followed this up: “High-Speed Rail Authority Follow-Up: Although the Authority Addressed Some of Our Prior Concerns, Its Funding Situation Has Become Increasingly Risky and the Authority’s Weak Oversight Persists.”

In 2018, the situation wasn’t much better, and the auditor said again, “California High-Speed Rail Authority: Its Flawed Decision Making and Poor Contract Management Have Contributed to Billions in Cost Overruns and Delays in the System’s Construction.”

Today, the project is nowhere near completion. Now, the project is expected to cost upwards of $135 billion, with the Bakersfield-to-Merced portion maybe being done 10 years after the entire system was supposed to be up and running.

Yet, the Newsom administration is taking the Trump administration to court and touting frivolous arguments in support of continuing the project.

The Fresno Bee editorial board offered nonsensical arguments in support of the boondoggle, uncritically regurgitating the talking points of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. “The project thus far has created 15,560 jobs, engaged with 936 small businesses, and generated more than $21 billion in economic impact,” the Bee argued in defense of the project.

Californians voted for a project they thought would be built by now for them to ride from southern California to northern California, not for a wasteful government jobs program that might get people from Bakersfield to Merced ten years late.