The original Tokaido Shinkansen was several years late and horribly over budget (almost 2x!). Nobody talks about that though, the only thing we say about Shinkansen is how amazing and literally life-changing it is. This will also be the case for California high speed rail.
If our leaders were actually serious about meeting climate goals and improving the quality of life for people across California (and the nation!) they would just build it, get the whole thing open as soon as possible.
@rustbeltenjoyer The key thing is that we need to learn from the problems how to reduce the overruns and build state capacity. But it doesn't seem like we are. They've spent over $600M on environmental review and aren't done. But no one seems to be proposing serious CEQA/NEPA reform.
@rustbeltenjoyer Wait the bullet train was delayed and over budget too?
@rustbeltenjoyer If the California High Speed Rail was only 2x over budget then I might support it. But it'll be at least a decade late just getting the initial segment completed and 4x or more over budget. LA to SF may never get built.
@rustbeltenjoyer Shinkansen over budget: an extra glass of wine at dinner. CA high speed rail: a four day meth bender
@rustbeltenjoyer The lesson is how to address the infrastructure cost issue since why it takes more time and money than elsewhere is the problem, not the infrastructure itself. Suspect NIMBY issues are one reason.
@rustbeltenjoyer They said California high speed rail would cost the taxpayer $30 billion. The voters voted to borrow the money to do that. Now it’s over $100 billion, over a decade of work, and not a single foot of usable track is laid. It’s a corrupt boondoggle that needs to be shut down.