High Speed Rail

Last week, the media reported, once again, that the California High Speed Rail (HSR) project is in its death throes.

Last August, the Reason Foundation released a report by Wendell Cox and Adrian Moore critiquing the privately funded XpressWest's (Xpress) application for a federal loan needed to begin construction. At the time, Streetsblog was still so busy laughing at Reason's attempts to discredit the Expo Line based on two dudes riding the car its first week of operation, we ignored the report. Besides, the Reason Foundation issuing a report that said that High Speed Rail ridership would be lower than expected or that operations would be costlier than expected isn't news.

Advocates for High Speed Rail, especially those that read the independent California High Speed Rail Blog, have long complained that the Los Angeles Times has it in for what the paper of record constantly refers to as "the Bullet Train." Indeed, every time I hear KFI conservative shock jocks John and Ken act shocked that a "liberal" paper such as the Times wrote a negative article about CAHSR, I chuckle. Almost all their articles about CAHSR have a negative tilt to them.

"The Browndoggle."

In addition to the mixed news on legislation impacting bicyclists, Governor Brown acted on many other pieces of legislation that will have a direct impact on transportation planning and public safety.

(High Speed Rail is a hot topic on the Streetsblogs.  For more check out CA Senate Approves Funds for High-Speed Rail, Commuter Rail Upgrades at Streetsblog San Francisco, A Victory for CA High Speed Rail but Still a Long Fight Ahead by  "Streetsblog.net" director Angie Schmitt)

Later this week, the plan to build a High Speed Rail line connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco faces a crucial vote in the California legislature.  Governor Jerry Brown asked lawmakers to release $2.7 billion of the $6 billion in bonds passed by California voters in 2008 for High Speed Rail.  Combined with $3.3 billion in federal funds, the allocation would build 130 miles of High Speed Rail in the Central Valley.

When people hear the phrase, "California High Speed Rail," they often think of the controversial project to connect Sacramento to San Diego, or the shorter route to connect San Diego to San Francisco. The proposed rail line seems to constantly attract negative media attention and has become a punching bag for California Republicans eager to paint the line as a boondoggle.

In a somewhat rainy day in Southern California, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood spread a little sunshine on California's embattled High Speed Rail project with an upbeat press conference at Los Angeles' Union Station.   There was no mention of the Federal Transit Administration's Civil Rights Review of the transit agency currently headed by Villaraigosa. The growing opposition against the $100 billion High Speed Rail Project, which includes Republican politicians in California's legislature and the leadership of the Congressional House of Representatives, was dismissed as a small group of malcontents.