Stew's U.S. High Speed Rail News January 2025 | CAHSR Brightline West Northeast Corridor Cascadia

[@eyezak_m]

New year. Same frustrations with California Legislature not realizing they need to consistently fund CAHSR and not rely on the Feds

[@Yvonne-Bella]

Maaaaaaaaaaybee slight increase on income tax for a certain income group.... I meeaaaaaaaan.... there _aarrree_ a lot of them here....

[@68BigSherm]

Why should any one group pay more into such a debacle? California could fund it for TEN YEARS with the $24 billion they can't account for from homeless spending? You want the same people to be given even more money?

[@Fidel_cashflo]

That’s not possible. California legally can’t debt finance and that’s pretty much a requirement to fund infrastructure projects of this scale

[@trol0lolol0lolol0]

Do you think that CAHSR is a well-planned (aligning opportunities with means to execute something that will work) project, such that its main challenge is just a shortage of funding? Sure, I agree, funding is probably the most immediate issue, but to me it seems that there are more complex underlying issues that will make the project even more expensive in the future.

[@Fidel_cashflo]

@@trol0lolol0lolol0 not nearly as much as some people say. Ultimately HSR in the mountainous terrain of California was always going to be an epic engineering challenge. There arent any design changes that can fundamentally change that. Add that to the institutional nature of the American economic system that makes big infrastructure difficult and the booming costs are not surprising. China has similar geography problems and is able drive costs down with design standardization and steady investment paired with long term central planning at the federal level. Until the US dedicates itself to getting better at those things they will continue to pedal in place.

[@arevolvingdoor3836]

As a California resident who has been consistently stuck in traffic on the I-5 in the Central Valley. I would be willing to work at minimum wage for cahsr construction in order to pay off my state income taxes, because at least then I would know what is happening to my tax dollars and that they were going to a cause I support.

[@car24dude]

Just move to a different state, with less traffic

[@driley4381]

Watching all of the progress our country has been making modernizing our passenger rail network grind to a halt over the next 4 years is going to be incredibly depressing. We were finally on a steady path to joining the 21st century and unlocking economic potential in alot of towns that have been struggling for a long time. One step forward, two steps back.

[@vandreadparty]

Well, as they say. We get the government we deserve 😢. Hopefully we can make some progress in the 2030s

[@user-wm3hu7lo1g]

At least you will get more highway lanes...

[@Thesecret101-te1lm]

TBH the pace hasn't been stellar up to now either. Like it's great that things happen, but how about switching out all NEC overhead wire to constant-tension like everybody else has done for about a century. Aim higher for various projects, i.e. don't build almost-but-not-really high/higher speed rail with diesel trains and with a mix of passenger and freight trains. Examples of this is the matching not-high-speed rail plans north of Merced, to run 18 trains per day to/from Merced using slower diesel trains, tracks shared by freight (i.e. pumping public money into propping up private railway companies rather than buying the right-of way or even using eminent domain ensuring the public sector are guaranteed to rake in the benefits of the investments). Or for example the plans to a partially new and partially improved line southwards from DC, where the current plans suggest still running diesel trains at non-impressive speeds. Or ensure that projects really take the chance on doing things the right way from the get go. Like it's great to have electrified Caltrain with new EMUs, but the platform height is a debacle where it seems like they just ordered some semi-random trains without a full plan on having level boarding, with two different low-ish train floor heights in addition to the upper floor, where the higher of the two lower levels are almost-but-not-fully compatible with the planned Cali HSR standard, but wouldn't be ADA compliant due to the toilets being on the lower of the two low levels. And also the trains are narrower than the required loading gauge for freight trains in California, so at any place freight trains are allowed to run (including parts of the Caltrain route) there needs to be retractable gap fillers between the train and the platform. Or in other words, it seems like many things happen they way they do due to lack of knowledge/skills for everything where skill/knowledge is necessary.

[@LucidStew]

There are a lot of places on the NEC that will have wires replaced, but they're not exactly in the most enormous hurry. A lot of the work on the NEC overall will coalesce in the mid-2030s.

[@EdwardM-t8p]

​@@user-wm3hu7lo1g But only for those of us in Red and Red-violet States that are still building and widening highways, so basically Arizona, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida.

[@robertwalsh1724]

Thanks!

[@LucidStew]

Thank you. We're starting on trip #7 here, so BLW better get started soon. 😄

[@TheTransitNomad]

Great video! Happy New Year to you as well! :)

[@LucidStew]

Happy New Year!

[@TheTransitNomad]

@@LucidStew Thank you so much!

[@jackmehauf8664]

Canadian here begging for a Toronto-Montreal HSR video. I just want a lil spoonful of Stew is all I want

[@lws7394]

You have got Doug Ford, right ? Would you expect any positive news, then ?

[@jackmehauf8664]

@ Unfortunately yes we have Doug ford in Ontario but it would mostly be a federal project. They are currently making federal plans to look into the corridor which would connect the two largest cities in Canada as well as the capital city Ottawa. It’s very much needed more then Doug’s idiotic Highway tunnel

[@deanc9453]

Happy Stew Year!

[@LucidStew]

Happy New Year!

[@PiplupJames]

STEW’S NEWS

[@Planettransit]

First episode of the year!

[@storungz]

YAY!! FRIENDS OF P!!!! That whole album is killer! You did awesome by making it Pete's theme!! 😂

[@adityaln9361]

I am very excited for this all aboard bill! The US can and should once again become a rail pioneer.

[@ussvincent1119]

Tbh, I think I’d rather have the M-B ready late just to let the authority collect themselves and actually have time to re-plan for SF and LA. Caltrain still got electrified and there is an Amtrak connection to Oakland from Merced, so that will have to wait until the next time Pluto completes a trip around the sun to address lol. I think the next step after Bakersfield would be extending to Palmsdale or Burbank, which would at the very least be a little closer to the original promise.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

Merced-Burbank was the originally intended IOS, but focus later shifted to Bakersfield-SF first, starting with Bakersfield-Merced, so the priority could shift to head south again to at least Palmdale before heading to San Jose and SF.

[@dwc1964]

While I would very much like to see a Cascadia HSR - seeing as my annual vacation is almost always to the Pacific Northwest - from what I've seen (e.g., a CityNerd video on the top 10 potential HSR corridors), the populations & reasonably expected ridership don't pencil out for the cost. IIRC I got the same impression from the video here, but it's been a while. CAHSR makes *at least* as much sense to spend whatever it takes to complete Bay Area-to-SoCal in terms of ridership, relief on currently overstressed infrastructure (both ground and air), and linkage with other projects like Brightline West and whatever SoCal decides to build to take advantage (along with maybe another transbay tube and all the possibilities that would unlock?). We lost a decade due largely to bad-faith obstructionist lawsuits by economic and ideological opponents of the project, deliberately designed to delay the project and drive up the cost, _just so_ they could proceed to call for its cancellation using the delays and cost overruns _they caused_ as the rationale. I've been watching this project since it first became a website in 1996, and I will be damned if I let those obstructionists win. *California needs Bay Area-to-SoCal High Speed Rail* and it's time for the politicians and the billionaires who select them to pull their heads out and pony up the money to get it done.

[@LucidStew]

My conclusion is that it will be quite expensive even for an only kinda-sorta good system. If they try something like the 250mph version they've tossed around... woah! ...but the last study concluded that was likely a bad idea.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@LucidStew but comparing it to the alternative costs of more expanding freeways and airports, HSR still comes out on top in the long run. Even if that alternative is not twice the cost of HSR, as it is estimated to be now, no amount of lanes makes driving faster, and would in fact make traffic worse, nor would any amount of gates and runways make air travel any easier. Building CAHSR to the standards set out for it is the only way forward, even if it’s in sections. The IOS is the first one, followed by Pacheco to Gilroy/San Jose and the shared Caltrain corridor to SF, and then Tehachapi to Palmdale and finally LA and Anaheim. Maybe the priority shifts south again to Palmdale next and then San Jose/SF before heading to LA/Anaheim, depending on funding opportunities. Right now the focus is on just getting the IOS operational, which could be pushed back from 2033 a year or more if the remaining funding needed is mostly/entirely on California. Cutting the project back or reducing what it was meant to be could end up being a sure fire way that it never gets finished, at least as intended, and sends the message that world-class 200+ mph HSR is not possible here.

[@cornkopp2985]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc I think LucidStew is talking about cascadia HSR, and comparatively that line seems less useful compared to CAHSR. It would be nice to have, but they'd probably get more bang for their buck if they spent several billions upgrading the current cascade corridor service and infrastructure.

[@cobaltblue42]

CityNerd's analysis was pretty poor, considering almost all of his "city pairs" were in the Northeast Corridor and could be served by the same HSR alignments. He needs to consider city groupings, not pairs that end up being duplicative with each other. You factor out or combine pairings that get served by the same corridor and suddenly a lot of other corridors become a lot more feasible and attractive. Cascadia HSR has great potential given the region is very large and relies on a single congested interstate for almost all travel, it's not sustainable to keep widening I-5 forever and god knows the Amtrak Cascades can never be upgraded to be fast or reliable as long as it's held hostage by BNSF. Hence why a new alignment works best, and if you're going to spend money on a new alignment, might as well make it HSR. But seeing as the urbanist / transit community has been continuously dissing the PNW recently, even RM Transit, I'm starting to think it's a hopeless thing to advocate or care for. Add in the new Trump administration and might as well just give up on actually trying to make the world a better place to live in lol.

[@LucidStew]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc I find the "equivalent capacity" argument somewhat specious, because it assumes an HSR system will ever run at capacity. Perhaps equivalent use is a better metric. Ultimately I'm a republican in the sense that I support the system of elected governments getting their power from, and carrying out the will of, the people. If the people of the Pacific Northwest decide they want an HSR system, they should have it. However, I think it's important to recognize things will be expensive and meet them head-on. PNW decides on HSR, they better be ready to vote to pay for it. We have seen what happens otherwise in California.

[@how_to_hallagon1]

Would like to see a video comparison of cost for the 1800s transcontinental railway project and the california high speed rail project. Just to see how much track was laid and for what cost and many stations were built and for what cost in the same time frame.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

Those two are incomparable. First off, the Transcon was built with cheap immigrant labor through wide open territory, with minimal safety concerns, and fully funded by the Feds through land grants that the railroads could sell to settlers, and the tougher the terrain the more the railroads got paid per mile. They were also built so fast and haphazardly that they had to go back and largely rebuild them before regular train service could begin. Trains also hit top speeds of maybe 40-50 mph. California HSR is building a 250 mph high speed electric railroad through developed land, both urban and rural, weaving a path around private property and through long established areas, over and under existing rail lines and roads. It’s also had piecemeal funding that so far has only covered a fraction of the total estimated cost, most of that coming from the state of California, and with very strict labor and environmental laws.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

And if you want to talk about corruption, look up the Crédit Mobilier scandal. That was a scheme by the owners of the Union Pacific, who would charge the Feds grossly exaggerated construction costs, then pocket the difference from the actual costs. California HSR meanwhile is holding themselves very accountable with regular updates of their spending and funding, which is publicly available on their website, and being held accountable with annual audits by the state that have found no evidence of wrongdoing.

[@dwainsellers6453]

If you want to look up corruption look at Dianne feinstein's husband is involved in Tudor panini the prime contractor on the high-speed rail​@@ChrisJones-gx7fc

[@dwainsellers6453]

These politicians are shafting us average people that live in this state and in the United States wake up America

[@user-wm3hu7lo1g]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc You said they were incomparable but didn't you just compare them ;)

[@lachezar2002]

Hi there! Could you please do the High Speed Rail train between Indianapolis and Louisville for the next video?

[@LucidStew]

I may eventually, but it will not be the next video.

[@lachezar2002]

Hi there! You could do the High Speed train between Minneapolis and Chicago. That High Speed Rail would run from Minneapolis to Chicago with stops at La Crosse, Madison, Janesville, Harvard, Crystal Lake, and Palatine. After Palatine, it would run through Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect then connect to the track owned by Union Pacific to Des Plaines Station by Prairie Lakes Community Center. After Des Plaines, it would go along the Union Pacific tracks until after it crossed Oakton Street. Then it will go underground directly to O’Hare Airport. The Station would be located underground by Terminal 3 at the Airport. After O’Hare Airport Station, it will run underground until the Metra Milwaukee District West tracks and go to Chicago Union Station. It would be thoughtful.

[@anitrain]

I fully support CAHSR and I believe it must be completed no mater the cost. But at the same time, it is an intrastate service... why should the feds pay for it? It's great that CA gets federal money, but maybe that money should never be going to the feds in the first place. Let CA pay for CA, and then it doesn't matter who the president is.

[@垃圾谷歌-e9j]

Happy 2025,this year the total length of Chinese HSR will reach 50000km milestone

[@LucidStew]

Happy New Year and congratulations to China on its continuing achievements in HSR!

[@VieleGuteFahrer]

Bot detected.

[@垃圾谷歌-e9j]

@ Yes,I am😎

[@-kaster--kaster-6090]

@@VieleGuteFahrer Hater detected!

[@daleviker5884]

And 1B Chinese will throw rose petals at the feet of their leaders while secretly wishing they had a car and a road network the same as the US does. It's funny the way people keep thinking that having a second tier form of transport is something to be proud of.

[@RVail623]

Speaking of Brightline Florida, they had yet another street crossing collision, this time (Dec. 28) in Delray Beach with a fire truck. Why can't the FRA mandate crossing guard gates that completely block the intersection from cars & trucks from even the possibility of those types of accidents? There's a train cab video of the Brightline train impacting the fire truck, which will probably cost >$200,000 to replace. Plus the damage to the Brightline engine.

[@maly2ts408]

I don't understand the mentality of drivers , would they drive past a red traffic light

[@onetwothreeabc]

"Why can't the FRA mandate crossing guard gates that completely block the intersection from cars & trucks from even the possibility of those types of accidents?" Lobbying from rail companies prevents it?

[@LucidStew]

They're going to need quad gates out there, at least at the worst crossings. Their reputation is quite bad in this regard through no fault of their own. You'd think a few million here and there for good will would be worth it.

[@onetwothreeabc]

@@LucidStew The local city government needs to pay for the safety improvement, or at least part of it.

[@zoltrix7779]

I can't believe there are even level crossings on such important rail corridors. US infrastructure is a debacle.

[@bjturon]

Connect those CaHSR tracks to the existing freight line and run some of those existing Amtrak California Siemens trainsets at 125 MPH.

[@LucidStew]

On the south end CP4 will be connected to BNSF to deliver materials for track and systems installation. They should be building that now, but I haven't heard any updates. On the north end of the initial 119 miles, BNSF in Madera is parallel right next to the ROW, just south of the current Madera station, so... Thanks for the thanks. We're working on Vegas trip #6 at the moment. If they don't start soon I'm going to need to figure out somewhere else for the money to go. Central Valley anniversary trip in June, maybe.

[@anitrain]

@bjturon Completely agree. We need to start using the ROW for something useful as quickly as possible. Then keep making incremental improvements as quickly we can secure funding until the entire thing is done.

[@ETNLWM]

Great video as always.

[@Pete-A]

Goodbye for now Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (Uwu hu hu) you were a real one

[@zoltrix7779]

He's way too competent for his role, should be in private industry.

[@zanzaben]

In other bad news for the NEC there were 110 stranded passengers at DC Union Station on 12/26 when a train left without them. Not sure if it was specifically an Acela so this may or may not count as a boo boo.

[@LucidStew]

I'll look into it. It's pretty funny.

[@LucidStew]

Yeah, I'm going to give you one for this. Normally I don't get too carried away with service issues that aren't infrastructure related, but this is zany enough to have made it into the video. I found enough reporting to turn the Reddit post into a real story, so its good from that angle. I also like that everyone got an upgrade to Acela, but had to wait OVERNIGHT because it was the last train of the day. Overall pretty good stuff.

[@daleviker5884]

@@LucidStew While you're at it, I don't know if you came across the incident where the Paris to London Eurostar was stopped by a power failure in late November 2023, resulting in the train being stopped for 7 hours in a place where no disembarkation was possible, with no power, and little food (understandably). 7 hours without heating and with toilets unable to be flushed is surely every traveler's dream. For those who missed out on the fun, there was another breakdown in June 2024, and again two weeks ago on December 26 2024, but these were only a couple of hours each.

[@LucidStew]

@@daleviker5884 uh huh, and once I had to sleep in the Denver International terminal and miss a day of work because Delta's computer system went down and wiped out every flight for 16 hours. Shit happens, but none of that is U.S. HSR news.

[@daleviker5884]

@@LucidStew I know, I know.....I've had enough disastrous travel experiences with every form of transport to fill a 12 part series. I was just being a bit devilish because of so many posters on here who refuse to concede that anything bad can happen if a train is involved.

[@jaylenjackson2403]

😅 anything with Dallas-Houston HSR?

[@LucidStew]

Amtrak is working on Step 2 of the Corridor ID process wherein they're attempting to move the project to a point where it can start receiving federal funds for construction. The project will likely soar through Corridor ID Step 3 since it is already environmentally cleared. It will likely be quiet for a little while in the mean time.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

The $536 million federal grant the two CA senators are requesting for CAHSR would go toward getting the Pacheco and Tehachapi Pass tunnels to 100% design. This would help show that CAHSR has every intention of extending beyond the Central Valley.

[@LucidStew]

That seems like a horrible idea when the funding isn't present to finish Merced-Bakersfield. Why not just bring the entire thing up to 100% design and then pray for rain?

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@LucidStew it certainly helps combat the whole ‘train to nowhere’ accusation or that it’ll never get beyond the Central Valley. Getting the extensions toward SF and LA closer to being construction ready means that once funding becomes available, it can be put to work ASAP. Admittedly things seem pretty bleak funding wise, but as you yourself pointed out, CHSRA should be fine funding wise through the next four years. Plus I choose to believe just cause things are a certain way now doesn’t mean they’ll always be that way. What’s to say that in 2029 there isn’t a more HSR/transit-friendly presidential administration, and even Congress, who following the significant progress (if not opening) of Brightline West and the California HSR IOS advocates and gets more funding for US HSR projects? CHSRA wants to be prepared for such a scenario, should it happen, so they’re preparing the SF and LA extensions now so once that funding becomes available they can compete for it, and once secured it can be put to work as quickly as possible.

[@daleviker5884]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc I think what you are really urging Chris is that money be spent in future sections now so that you can later play the "sunk cost" card for more than just stage 1. Lucid Stew is right to say that is a terrible idea if the objective is anything other than political theatrics. But let's be real - I'm writing a few days after, and the fires have pretty much killed the future of this train. California had no money to spare before, and whatever money it receives now will be prioritized for rebuilding and for enhancing water supplies. The only way forward for the HSR is for California to beg borrow or steal to finish stage 1 and hope that ridership projections are smashed, such that private money becomes interested in funding the coastal connections. Surely everybody must accept now that NO Federal Government is going to give Gavin Newsom $100B to build this train.

[@marlopeterson8283]

How about the Brightline versus fire truck collision in Delray, FL?

[@LucidStew]

Similar to why I don't report on every 2-lane overpass CAHSR completes, that accident wasn't all that noteworthy aside from the vehicle being a fire truck. If things like this lead to Brightline putting up more robust protective measures, that will probably make its way into a video.

[@ryanmendoza8657]

CHSR won’t have level crossings

[@LucidStew]

@@ryanmendoza8657 It will. Quite a few between San Jose and San Francisco, and a handful in Anaheim.

[@ExtraLt1]

It is amazing to see how Brightlome has been growing. I know it was mentioned about the having seven car trains this year. Have they said what the max number of cars there trains could have?

[@LucidStew]

No, however Brightline West may contain a clue. BLW is also planned as 7-car trains. Rather than add more cars to increase capacity, they will couple trains.

[@ExtraLt1]

​@@LucidStewThat makes sense! I appreciate the answer

[@CasualScrub]

I've heard brightline stations are built to accommodate 10 cars max

[@jaredhardaway]

Two prospective city pairs: Chicago to Detroit, and Cincinnati- Cleveland via Dayton and Columbus

[@TheRoadTripChannel]

Happy 2025!!! 🕛🎊🎆🥂🍾

[@TheLIRRFrenchie...]

please say it again for the idiots in the bback regarding prop 1A. It was NEVER going to fund the entire project. It was a down deposit, and as someone who has followed this project since 2008, it is so annoying when people say they wasted 1A funds, when they didn't. People forget so easily that they couldn't even break ground until like 2012/2013 because of lawsuits in kern county and a few other places, republicans taking over the house and senate in 2010, and the mismanagement of the authority at the time.

[@LucidStew]

It was originally meant to cover about 1/4 of the cost when the naive estimate was $33 billion. Considering the state of things now, the bond should have been closer to $30 billion, but that probably wouldn't have even made it to the ballot, let alone passed. Another reason they couldn't start right away is they needed to get through the NEPA process. Central Valley didn't clear until 2012. Also blame the FRA for the ARRA grant requirements, and combine that with the 50% spending restriction on the bond money. Overall the project lacks any sort of reasonable flexibility. We got sold a project that was nearly impossible to build at anything but top dollar, with phony, low-ball estimates, and it was voted on by 12 million people who didn't have the slightest clue if it was a good idea.

[@dannyseveryn4620]

The bill as advertised promised so much for a way lower cost. The CAL HSR proposal voted on 17 years ago was a bait and switch by the special interest groups and crooked lawmakers most likely The bill called for $10 billion in bonds, but currently we sit at a mind boggling $128 billion and counting. If this project made even an ounce of sense the private sector would have already done it for a fraction of the amount. Just saying

[@bb1111116]

I’ll compare this to the UK. According to reports, Britain’s High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project will have one phase currently costing between $58.4 billion and $70 billion from the UK government, with an average cost of $416 million per mile. It is reported that this per mile cost makes it the world‘s most expensive railway project by that measure.

[@Railenroute]

Stews HSR News 2025 just dropeed 🚨🚨🚨

[@LucidStew]

Stop, drop, and roll!

[@khalifahmuhammad1574]

Stewgebra🫣? Love it 😂👍🏾

[@LucidStew]

More even more fun, try Linear Stewgebra

[@dwc1964]

stooooz noooooz!

[@izsakbessenyei801]

(Ooh woo hoo hoo) 🤘

[@toadtws]

7:40 Presumably that’s meant to be October 2023 with 217k BrightLine riders?

[@LucidStew]

It's as described. November 2024 was the first full month they had the carriages where their service wasn't affected by hurricanes. The comparison is month-over-month.

[@danielvanhorne1973]

Amazing video as always! Video idea for ya: make a rendering of that CA HSR would look like if it skipped the central valley cities (maybe busses), and went along highway 5 (or whatever you think the best ROW would be). I would love to know how many fewer stuctures that would need to be built, and if there was a cheaper, temporary way to get trains into the bay area/LA (goal would be to dig tunnels at some later date).

[@LucidStew]

Unfortunately most of I-5 through the Central Valley is lacking Google Maps 3D building data, so it would make for a poor visualization. Otherwise, I'd probably do something like visualize the route I favored here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eam6k6udoNiKnposi=MrEQq_9jR_wKQC--

[@TheLiamster]

I know it’s unlikely but I do hope the all aboard act will pass through congress

[@UtahBlender]

The Los Angeles to Las Vegas rail has been talked about for decades and apparently, with all the earmarked funds, still has only put a shovel in the ground in Las Vegas to date. However, the rumors of a high speed rail between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City is simply that, a rumor. That will NEVER break ground. We don’t want steerage access to Utah. Airport TSA security works wonders for that purpose. 👍🏻

[@joemanflyer2001]

The best news about the high speed rail in California is that it will probably done when most of us are dead !

[@Deadbrokemine]

I’ve seen a lot of news coverage lately about Brightline, Florida having high pedestrian fatality rates. Would love to see you take a look at that, why so high, what could be done.

[@Geotpf]

Florida is filled with suicidal idiots who go around railroad crosing barriers and get themselves killed. I don't think it's Brightline's fault in any, way, shape, or form.

[@LucidStew]

Aside from the fire truck, the ones I'm aware of are either suicides or crazy drivers. These accidents are almost never Brightline's fault. Even the fire truck was the fire truck driver's fault. I think public pressure will eventually cause them to install quad gates at certain intersections. Those are crossing arms that essentially seal the intersection while down, but are rarely required by the FRA for level crossings 110mph and under. Suicides are difficult to deter. We used to get them fairly regularly along a freight mainline I used to live by.

[@Deadbrokemine]

@ Makes sense. The SMART train near me has started installing such gates to try to prevent these things, and they go much slower than brightline. I guess it is a good thing that Brightline west will be grade separated.

[@aidanpeck180]

Does the mismatching number of gold stars at the end count as a boo-boo considering you said 18 and only 10 are shown

[@LucidStew]

one of them says 10 in it

[@TheGreatSovietUnion2]

Is the background music Deadmau5? Hard to focus on the facts when I like the video and the music equally. Thanks for keeping us informed!

[@LucidStew]

That's a group called Nimbus. The track is 'Eveningland'.

[@judejohnson6336]

Woooo new year

[@malist42]

Summary: The rail industry is seeing a mix of progress and challenges across the United States. The California High-Speed Rail project faces severe funding issues, Brightline is demonstrating positive growth in both Florida and the west, and Amtrak is struggling with infrastructure issues while seeing positive financial gains. New federal initiatives, such as the All Aboard Act and the Corridor ID Program, could lead to future advancement. This suggests a need for careful planning, additional funding sources and better transparency across the board. Further Analysis/Questions: What are the specific next steps for the California High-Speed Rail project given the significant funding shortfall? How will Brightline ensure its ridership growth is sustainable? What impact will the proposed All Aboard Act have on the future of rail infrastructure? Are any of the other Corridor ID programs going to see movement soon?

[@outbacktrek]

make it so.....💰💰💰💸💸💸

[@outbacktrek]

subversions continue....

[@GeoffSteele-r6u]

Will be interesting to determine if the latest 'land clearance project' in Los Angeles will stimulate land acquisition through the burned out areas at gov't determined 'fair market value' (not the previous privately-insured market value for those properties, since private insurers have withdrawn coverage). If acquisition of private land through the area had been stymied by landowner refusals to sell, etc., then perhaps the 'convenient' fires have 'cleared the way' through the morass of citizen resistance (for the 'greater good', of course !).

[@sdsd4139]

8:04 4 million trips would be amazing. Is the 55% boost spread throughout the full year or just for the back half of 2025? If it's only for half the year, looking more like 3.5 million. The letter says a marginal 100k rides per month, which would make me think ~3.25 million or so, assuming this applies for 6 months

[@LucidStew]

Their base going into the year is ~3 million. Applying the growth in capacity to growth in ridership was a gross oversimplification to arrive at a ballpark.

[@sdsd4139]

@ oh that makes sense! Thanks for clarifying & Happy New Year Stew!

[@carisi2k11]

@@LucidStew So spending 130+ us billion dollars to only get 3-4 million passengers per year seems like great value.

[@LucidStew]

@@carisi2k11 3-4 million trips is for Brightline Florida. It's CAHSR Phase 1 that's in the $130 billion range. Ridership projections for that are ~28 million/year. Whether or not that is accurate or worth it is up for its own interpretation.

[@alexisdespland4939]

how are the new trains that aee going ri replacw the asela comming along.

[@LucidStew]

they are expected to be in service in a few months.

[@alhollywood6486]

Will this be the last time for the Rentals?😂 Edit: should have waited until the end!

[@LucidStew]

I got a year's worth into one video. Now its on Pete.

[@Dr_Reason]

Is it correct to call electric locomotives as zero emission given our electric grid fuel sources?

[@LucidStew]

It's pretty common to reference emission at the source this way.

[@confuseatronica]

yes it is. It can be run completely on solar or wind derived energy.

[@Railenroute]

​@@confuseatronicahe said give him our current electric grid sources

[@LucidStew]

@@confuseatronica That's a good point. In many places solar/wind generation and battery storage can be built along side rail line to the extent of completely supplying energy demands. Of course nation-wide that's a slightly different story. I assume federally-funded electrification would include at least some generation and storage.

[@lassepeterson2740]

It is very difficult to tell where the electricity is generated when you continuosly draw off a large grid .

[@juanmontull8550]

I still don't understand the costs of CHSR, they are insane from my point of view, if those costs were the same in my country we would't have built the second largest network in the world, California seriously needs to reduce those costs. That said, best of luck to the US passenger railway, is finally starting to follow the steps of the first world.

[@LucidStew]

Part of it is the expense of building in California. Part of it is the system being vastly overengineered by law. Part of it is a naive, inexperienced, and partially incompetent bureaucracy. Part of it is a Legislature with oversight and funding power that doesn't really want to build it.

[@AxesoftheDanes]

@@LucidStew All too true, Stew. But you could have also listed legal and political opposition to the California High Speed Rail project. The most notorious being the lawsuits filed by Stuart Flashman, the attorney representing, among others, John Tos, a Hanford area walnut farmer, the Republican Kings County Board of Supervisors, the Bay Area Peninsula cities of Palo Alto and Atherton, and others challenging the Authority's compliance with Proposition 1A the $9.9 billion bond measure approved by voters in 2008. Republican opposition from the town of Hanford necessitated the Authority moving the project's construction east of Hanford right through Tos' orchards. Funny that. Finally, you could have also included that the federal government has actually contributed very little funding to the project. The Nation State has funded approximately 83% of the project. For highway construction, for example, the usual formula is the inverse with the Federal government paying 85-90% of the project's funding.

[@LucidStew]

@@AxesoftheDanes The CAHSR Authority has spent $110 million on legal fees, which constitutes less than 1% of their expenditures to date. While it could be argued that lawsuits and lack of federal funding have inflated the project some by making it take longer, that doesn't really explain why its so expensive to begin with.

[@AxesoftheDanes]

@@LucidStew Explaining why it is so expensive to begin with is easy. A legislative staffer who was on the team that wrote Proposition 1A was concerned that engineers would reduce the speed of the trainsets and the maximum speeds the track and guideways would permit creating a system like Brightline West is building. In the interview I read, to prevent this, he inserted the following in the text of the Proposition: "The high-speed train system to be constructed pursuant to this chapter shall have the following characteristics: (a) Electric trains that are capable of sustained maximum revenue operating speeds of no less than 200 miles per hour. b) Maximum express service travel times for each corridor that shall not exceed the following: b(1) San Francisco-Los Angeles Union Station: two hours, 42 minutes." As you know, to achieve this time requires that the trainsets must cruise at 220 mph and, therefore, must be tested for capability 10% higher than this speed. Thus to achieve this 2 hour 42 minute requirement you must build a system for 250 mph which the Authority is doing.

[@daleviker5884]

@@AxesoftheDanes Every project gets held up by lawsuits because every project has winners and losers. The real question is why the voters were given timetables that pretended this inevitable outcome would not happen. Private sector projects anticipate and budget for lawsuits because EVERY project has opposition.

[@meandwhoism]

Pete Buttigieg button: 0:25 Goodbye Pete buttons: 11:04 11:16 11:26 11:35😢

[@LucidStew]

You made a boo boo! Oh my god, finally *I* get to say that! In the Tribute To Pete there are FIVE stingers, not four. ooo woo hoo hoo, I got me a gold star!

[@meandwhoism]

@@LucidStewwhat have i done...

[@libertytree1775]

Okay, I want to make something very clear to people. First of all, I, as a conservative, support high-speed rail. Furthermore, I think that high-speed rail shouldn't even be political. I have talked to many other conservatives who agree with high-speed rail and want to see it become reality in America. Republicans like the Governor of Nevada want to see this happen as well. The problem is that, in California specifically, they are doing it wrong. What I mean by that is they shouldn't even be using tax dollars to fund the projects there. California's bullet train projects have just become a money grab. Texas made the right move by banning tax funds from going to their bullet train. There is a reason why Texas' bullet train is only $20 billion, and California's is way past that. It will be the same reason that Texas completes their bullet train first.

[@LucidStew]

If Texas had allowed state money to go to building HSR in the 90's, they could have built a nearly state-wide system for $9 billion and it would be running for 20 years now.

[@libertytree1775]

@LucidStew Okay, why should I foot the bill for something that a company can do by themselves?

[@LucidStew]

@@libertytree1775 The company was not able to do it themselves. That's why it doesn't exist. The reason you'd want to "foot the bill" is to have it as a transport option. Also, to avoid it becoming that much more expensive in the future as it becomes more difficult to build due to growth. Again, using Texas TGV as an example, the route that was clear and available 30 years ago now has development strewn all over it, and is now impossible. Necessary deviations or change of plans will drive up the cost if there is an attempt to build anything like that now. That's why the price for Texas Central Railway is estimated at $30 billion now even though that connection only constituted half the original Texas TGV system.

[@Ben-wp5rx]

Isn’t Amtrak having to step in now because the fully private approach failed

[@libertytree1775]

@@LucidStew Lol, and the ones in California are way past $30 billion 🤣

[@onlinesavant]

California will pass legislation, much like New York already has, that will fine fossil fuel companies, for their damage to the state's environment, forcing them to pay for the financing of the whole project. It was SB 1497 (In 2023.) I believe. NY is fining the fossil fuel polluters $75 billion, to be paid over 25 years. I'm sure California can do better. $100 billion perhaps? In fact, New Jersey, and Maryland, have submitted, and I guess, debating similar bills to New York's in 2025.

[@LucidStew]

The state is already suing, but its impossible to tell from the lawsuit what the proceeds might be.

[@onlinesavant]

@LucidStew Sure. However, to reiterate, the lawsuit has nothing to do with a new law that would ultimately fine the fossil fuel polluters. They would operate on 2 different platforms. In essence, if the law passes, the companies would sue the state in federal court (Like they're doing with NY.), in order to try to avoid paying the fines. It would be a failed effort ultimately (State's rights! Funny how the right is so selective as to when it uses that "principle.") but they may delay paying the fines for a long time. Though considering how much just one makes in PROFIT in one year (I checked. ExxonMobil had made $89 BILLION by September of 2024, so that was not the final number.), a collective of them paying $100 billion over 25 years would seem to be no big deal, am I right???

[@daleviker5884]

What business in its right mind would stay in a state like that. California will inevitably end up collapsing like the USSR.

[@gumbyshrimp2606]

Holy Crap

[@Robert0Pirie]

Oh no... I think I found a boo boo: at about 9:45 your graphic says "FY 2025" when it should be "FY 2024."

[@LucidStew]

It's FY2025. Amtrak's fiscal year starts in October.

[@Robert0Pirie]

@LucidStew Aaaahhhhhh! My bad! No boo boo after all!

[@teuast]

Does anyone have any insight on what CAHSR doesn’t seem to have attempted to use any EIFDs for additional funding sources? They were introduced by CA in 2014 and have already funded some LA metro expansions. Seems it would be a really easy way for the authority to fund itself without having to let the dingo babysit.

[@4svideosforschool]

Should California actually finish this rail project, the cost of traveling from LA to SF by train will be more expensive than flying. That was reported at the start of this money pit. Should that not have been the point to rethink this?

[@LucidStew]

Here's the thing... the state has no impetus to ever have operation of the system pay for construction of the system. The only mandate is that it not lose money on operations. Electric trains are relative inexpensive to operate. So the question then is what kind of actual ridership will they get? If its low, then yeah tickets are going to have to be pretty expensive unless they manage some legal gymnastics and slough off the loses onto some separate operating entity.

[@daleviker5884]

@@LucidStew The Authority's own business plan guides to the answers here. When the project was voted on the projected ridership was given as 48m passengers a year. In each business plan update that figure has been pulled back more and more, and by the 2024 update it has been reduced to 28m passengers a year, with revenue of $2.9B, which implies an average ticket cost of just over $100. That is not the SF to LA ticket price, that is the average of all journeys, full or partial. You are right about the gymnastics that will have to be gone through to "meet" the requirement to not lose money. Clearly, somewhere along the line there is an interest cost imputed to this project on the $100B capital required, and at a conservative 5% that alone is way above the currently expected revenue, even before taking into account operating costs and depreciation. If you want a live example of this sort of gymnastics, have a look at Spain - which some on here think is a great precedent for the US. Up until 2023 the HSR network was losing more than $1B a year in cash flow, and those losses will have escalated in 2024 with the opening up of key routes to outsiders. So the government disclosed in the accounts small print that from 2024 on the cost of maintaining the infrastructure would be spun off into separate company. Nice way to pretend the losses on that network are lower than they really are.

[@RailMan102_Productions]

I would want nothing more than to have that $200 billion bill pass, we really need to start catching up

[@LucidStew]

Trump is a spend and stimulate kind of leader, so I wonder if it might be favorable to him. The problem is Congressional Republicans. Probably at a minimum there needs to be some pork barrel amendments to shift more funds their way.

[@Joeywilkins_27]

States might need to fund these cities to cities in state first maybe because the interstate legislation is hard to overcome, but idk if thats possible

[@Dkrpan59]

Just by putting one rail down to we are done building the line and get it running one tunnel one bridge it’s HIGH SPEED RAIL look how fast it gets from just the initial segment

[@anthonycarvalhonotarypubli4507]

I am not a architect or a scientist. All of the rebar is rusted that can not be good. Louis Thomas knows this project is dead that is why he left and has resigned.

[@25787fdshj]

WE NEED HIGH SPEED RAIL!

[@gdrriley420]

You seem to have completely missed a key funding idea the IG report proposed, state agrees to back fill any shortfall on cap and trade along with an extension and so then a federal loan can be gotten. Even with just a 2036 extension that could get us 10B now, while 2040 could get us 15-20B. I think the Peer review group has mostly been useless with rarely any good insight. Point 1 is mute, our highway and airport costs are far higher. Oakland is talking about billions in cost to overhaul and merge terminal 1 and terminal 2 along with a new terminal. Burbank is kicking off a multi billion dollar rebuild and LAX is looking at tens of billions in expansion and thats before we look at adding a 3rd lane to I5 which won't be cheap. Cascade HSR needs to stop being dumb and scale back their 200-250mph goals to 160mph and get a new master agreement for BNSF around Seattle to get the 72RT slots a day they'll need.

[@LucidStew]

Nope, didn't miss it. It just didn't sound imminent or even on the horizon. It also fits into the idea of the legislature dedicating $6 billion to the project in the next 2 years, although what are the odds they'll vote on that 5 years early just to fund a project the legislature is clearly not a fan of? Those airport projects cited don't seem to mean much in CAHSR terms. CAHSR won't connect directly to Oakland, the new Hollywood/Burbank terminal will be done decades before CAHSR gets there, LAX is one of the busiest airports in the world and the busiest international airport on the west coast. It's not like it only connects to other parts of California. The OAK and BUR expansions are only $3 billion combined. CAHSR can't even get to Merced for that, so how is that favorably comparable?

[@gdrriley420]

@ Given it’s here and a cap and trade extension is in the works now it could end up happening. Most of the legislators are interested in the project but they want it to get into their district sooner. A 10 year extension of cap and trade even if the percentage cahsr gets is reduced is another 10-15B. Getting access to 15-20B now would mean they could finish the general valley begin construction on one of the exists. CAHSR is going to end up in Oakland if LINK 21 mainline happens and even if it doesn’t till after cahsr reaches the bay there will be plenty of transit transfer options that mean Oakland like SJ and SF is going to lose nearly all their Southern California market share. Burbank’s is estimated a little over 1.1B and Oakland we don’t know. SFO T1 project that just finished was 2.5B and don’t get started on LAX ongoing projects. We are dumping tens of billions into airport overhauls and expansions.

[@austinharding9734]

can someone explain to me how it is that European countries or Japan can put together a high speed rail line from scratch with similar miles of track and similar grades basically looking at the same hurdles and engineering difficulties but can do it for a 10th of the cost? knowing what i know now i NEVER would have voted yes for 1A,, Also any chance leaders of rail projects here would look at other countries for advice? namely the MTR one of the only rail line companies in the world that take no subsidies and still earn a profit from there rail lines?

[@LucidStew]

1/10 is a bit of an exaggeration. The going rate per mile is around 2-5 times less. We chose to build an extremely expensive system. If you look at other systems, outside of China, that are similarly designed(British HS2, Chuo Shinkansen), they're also very expensive. China can build in ways that would never make it past environmental review here. They've also spent 40 years now perfecting building HSR the way they do, which has made them very efficient at it. Unfortunately, at this point, CAHSR is almost completely environmentally cleared for Phase 1 L.A.-S.F., so there will be no major alterations to the plan. It's either $130 billion+ or bust.

[@ficus3929]

At this point I’d bet the US will never have world class (300+ km/h) rail. The political support, institutional knowledge, and funding isn’t there in any state. Maybe we will get some nice upgrades for the Acela corridor at best.

[@AndrewTubbiolo]

How can a set of rail lines 120 miles long cost $6.2 billion? That's $52 million per mile! Which is $9,700 per foot! What's driving the costs so high?

[@LucidStew]

Not sure where the $6.2 billion is coming from, but they've spent more like $12 billion so far on the first 119 miles. $52 million/mile is pretty typical worldwide for HSR.

[@AndrewTubbiolo]

@@LucidStew Yikes! Is HSR cheaper than air travel? Those numbers are staggering.

[@Geotpf]

​@@AndrewTubbioloInitial costs are high (especially in a place like the United States with high labor costs, strong environmental laws, high land values, questionable political support, and a litigious society), but actual operation costs (per passenger mile) should be low. Plus, it's not just a replacement for planes heading between SF and LA. It will be quite a boon for the Central Valley, making that relatively isolated part of the state much more connected to the state's biggest cities.

[@LucidStew]

@@AndrewTubbiolo It's a little more complicated than that because HSR is just one part of a more comprehensive public transit network. A good public transit system can move a lot of people more efficiently than other modes, so prudence depends on a combination of factors. It's reasonable to conclude, however, that CAHSR is expensive for high speed rail.

[@AndrewTubbiolo]

@@Geotpf Well less than 200 miles kills the aviation solution. I know it would step on trucking shoes, but putting cargo on those high speed trains might close the operations budget gap. That's what the airlines do to make up ticketing shortfalls.

[@bennyg2688]

Just missed being first 😢

[@johnsavage6628]

High speed rail should already be in existence. But the auto industry killed the red cars, and the trollies. Now we have impossible highway traffic and bigger and bigger, and expensive roads to repair and keep up. What a joke. Most cities were once joined by railroads. Now it's going to cost trillions to build high speed rail. How dumb is this? Do you know what the function of government should be? Providing for the common good. Which means providing jobs, money, transportation and places for people to live and function economically, and safely. You say this isn't the function of government. Well right now it's function is only to make the rich richer, and the poor, poorer. Can you see how this is going to come to a sudden end if government doesn't ensure that people can live and function? Lots people are going to be very dead. No? Wait for it. It's coming. And very soon. Hey. Someone invent a phaser, and start selling them. Things will come to an end sooner. No? What happens to people when they are indifferent to the plight of other people. People die in wars. This country was set up as a business to make fair profits, so everyone could benefit. Least ways this was the ideal. It isn't now. What happened? Bigger and bigger business killed fair competition is what happened. Now what? That's the question? Isn't it? Now what? Now is this country a business or what is it?

[@BoredCapturer]

10:51 They could've easily done that back in 1947 😂😂😂

[@fredmapes8414]

Pete LOL

[@LucidStew]

bye Pete 😭

[@SnarkySolarGuy]

The CAHSR is a great money maker for Newsome and his buddies. There's a lot of under-the-table money to go around.

[@BigRonRN18]

The California "High Speed" Rail project is a lesson in why the government should NOT take on such projects. I am not opposed to high-speed rail projects, but they need to be done intelligently, something California is not capable of. In order to be successful, it needs to be profitable. In order to be profitable, it needs to be faster, cheaper, and move more people than alternatives. It also needs to pay for itself, not with government subsidies. The rail will be around three times slower than an airplane but about half to a third of the time driving. There are several advantages to driving, such as the ability to get around when you get to your destination. There is also an issue with luggage or stuff that needs to go with you. When taking public transportation, this really puts a huge crimp in what you can take with you. With both flying and with rail, every passenger pays. In your vehicle, there is the expense of operating the vehicle. For a family, this is going to be MUCH cheaper! For the towns where the trains will start, I expect that there will be some usage and that usage will increase as it covers more areas, BUT, it will be operating at a loss. I don't foresee it EVER being profitable, it will only be a financial drain on the government. There is a word that well encompasses the entire California High-Speed Rail project: Boondoggle.

[@Polarity5]

CHSR exists to spend money. If it was about building rail they would have something to show for it by now, but they don't, and they won't. There will be no rail in 2030 but they will spend another hundred billion dollars on administration fees. I think Brightline will conceptualize, plan, start and finish a high speed rail project between major Cali cities before the first segment of CHSR opens.

[@LucidStew]

I'd still call it a race between BLW finishing Rancho-Vegas and CAHSR finishing Merced-Bakersfield, but CAHSR isn't looking so hot going into the stretch. I don't know that the state legislature has the appetite to gamble $6 billion on the project in the middle of several projected deficit years where other programs will need to be paused or cut.

[@confuseatronica]

what's the joke about pete buttigieg?

[@LucidStew]

There is no joke about Pete Buttigieg.

[@EdwardM-t8p]

In hindsight it would have been much better, easier and cheaper to build the CAHSR in the medians of US 101, CA 170, I-5, CA-99, CA-120, I-580, CA I-238, and I-880 with diversions along existing tracks and tunnels under mountains as necessary to get to city center stations and keep to a feasible grade. Now with the new administration I'm pessimistic that we won't have any Amtrak, Brightline or HSR, let alone lical mass transit. Our only options will be take an intercity bus, fly or drive and I'm also skeptical about the bus. 😔

[@mevans4953]

I don’t ever see CaliRail ever succeeding in the way people expected. It was proposed during a time where most of the growth was in SanFran and Silicon Valley. But now most economic growth is occurring in Texas and Florida, while the economy of Cali is shrinking. Shouldn’t we divert funding towards those growth sectors?

[@LucidStew]

Certainly current conditions have not lived up to the projected conditions that justified the project. They were projecting something like 50 million people living in California by 2030, 25 years ago. We'd be lucky if it ends up over 40 million. From this perspective, I support Louis S. Thompson's notion of reassessing the project justifications. I also think that needs to be done completely independently of the CAHSR Authority as they are far too ingrained as a self-perpetuating entity.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

California is projected to surpass Germany as the 4th largest economy in the world. I’d hardly call that shrinking. LA-SF is also still one of, if not the, busiest flights in the US. The Central Valley population is now over seven million people, and many travel between there, the Bay Area and SoCal in addition to those driving between those two latter regions, putting increased pressure on existing freeways that adding lanes only makes worse in the long run due to induced demand. A fast, reliable alternative to those options is still badly needed, and will continue to be. That’s why a majority of Californians voted for and continue to support high speed rail, and that support will almost certainly continue to grow as things get closer to initial operations in the Central Valley. Once people can begin to ride the first trains, connecting with other transit across the state, demand will almost certainly grow to extend HSR into the Bay Area and SoCal, and with it increased pressure to find the funding for it.

[@davidjackson7281]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc When there is no hsr service ten years from now will you still feel the same?

[@mevans4953]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc A lot of those of those who I talked to who supported Prop 1A when they were younger are now residents of other states, or live in an area that won’t be directly serviced by it. As for the economy, other than agricultural, or a tech subscription, or taxes for using their ports, I’d be hard pressed to think of actual goods that I know were made in Cali that I’d want to buy (Prop 65). The stated large economy of the state just feels like it’s just overpriced houses changing hands and is largely inflationary and divorced from its true value. CaliRail needs to service real people in affordable homes and not speculative riders buying homes in a speculative market. If the next Admin ever does consider HSR, it will be in an area with proven ridership (NE corridor) or funding will be demanded back from Cali towards a growth state (Texas, LA, or even Midwest)

[@daleviker5884]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc "California has the 5th largest economy, I'd hardly call that shrinking". Lucid Stew was specifically talking about population. When the train was proposed, the population was exploding, but that has long since stopped, and the population is now shrinking. That is why the ridership forecasts have reduced from the original 48m a year to current expectations of 28m. You are either deliberately ignoring these inconvenient truths or are not taking the trouble to inform yourself. And as to your continual reminder that California has a large GDP, that is a meaningless statistic unless that economy is well managed. The Soviet Union had the world's second largest economy from WW2 until the mid198s, and it collapsed. I fully expect California to go the same way.

[@-Katastrophe]

I forget, how many billion did California waste on homelessness with zero to show for it again?

[@aljawisa]

How much has been spent on CHSR and what has been done with photographic and video evidence? How much money has been spent on interest to banks using this project as a money laundering operation, and d why hasn't this project been audited? Lastly, will this comment be shadowbanned?

[@LucidStew]

As of 10/31/24 the CAHSR Authority has spent $15.76 billion. There's photographic and video evidence everywhere, including on this channel. You have half a dozen people on KZbin flying drones around the thing constantly. In terms of interest, the bond portion for the project is $9 billion. Repayment of that will cost another $9 billion. The project was audited, in 2018. The Legislative Analyst's Office and the independent CAHSR Office of Inspector General now audit activities regularly. I don't think the last part will happen because you didn't ask anything truly subversive.

[@kylewalton7005]

by buttyjuice

[@cobalt8619]

Listen I love CAHSR, but they shouldn't get that grant, CHIP and the Northern Lights Express deserve it more and they probably both need as much as CAHSR is asking for.

[@SpidermanandJeny]

I like railways, but my goodness the not high speed rail in CA is not real high speed and is comically expensive and so way over budget I'm not sure this project should continue unless someone with outside experience completely takes over the project and that CA beaurucrats stop with their incesssnt environmental and other reviews.

[@onetwothreeabc]

Cal HSR should be paid by California government.

[@dannyseveryn4620]

The government? Really? Ask yourself who funds the government. Answer is us. They ( government ) lied to us 16 plus years ago, they promised us the taxpayers (people that fund government) that CA HSR would cost only $30 some billion. Currently 16 plus years later and over $100 of our tax dollars spent not a single track been laid. How much more do they (government) need to steal from us (tax payers).

[@ryanfisch7047]

If the feds help build and california maintains it, I'm fine with my Midwest tax dollars going towards it. I think solid train routes will save money in the long run from interstate maintenance and expansions. My approval would go towards Texas High Speed Rail and fixing NEC.

[@dannyseveryn4620]

The promised cost for California HSR was $10 billion at this point we are $128 billion and counting it’s been 16 years and not a single track has been laid. California should sell to a private company and allow them to finish it. For example; Bright Line West should have LA to Las Vegas finished for the 28 Olympic Games and will have cost the taxpayers only a fraction of the other.

[@LucidStew]

Pretty likely it will be. For the next 4 years anyway...

[@ryanfisch7047]

Not arguing that. I do think there are a lot of regulations and red tape that drive the costs of these large infrastructure projects. Oh and NIMBYs too.

[@dwainsellers6453]

What a colossal waste of money and manpower

[@dannyseveryn4620]

HSR is a great idea only if done by the private sector. Cal HSR should cut there losses and sell this boondoggle to save the over taxed people of California billions of dollars that we cannot afford.

[@TheRandCrews]

This will not fly with even private sector with the immense cost, Cali HSR is going to be the future backbone for California rail network for the state. San Joaquin’s services are supposed to be cut when IOS of Cali HSR opens and will run along similar routes with Altamont Corridor Express. Brightline West is not a good comparison for the scope of developments, network integration, infrastructure is not any similar and are built for different intentions.

[@Brl46574]

sell it? nobody will buy it. America can afford god damn anything it wants, certainly california can. once the project is done and functional, people wont give a damn what it costs anymore, just like every other HSR network in the world

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

A private company would still need to follow the same environmental laws and deal with the same land acquisitions that CHSRA has, as well as local opposition. Plus Brightline West is partly funded with public money. Really the best way forward is public-private partnerships.

[@chipset2900]

Such a scam. Airports are already subsidized and you can fly to anywhere.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

So it’s ok to subsidize airports (and roads) but not rail and transit? Talk about hypocritical. We already spend far more on roads alone every year than transit (over $140 billion compared to less than $20 billion).

[@ThePlecoPal]

Airports already work​@@ChrisJones-gx7fc

[@Dweller415]

This is the biggest boondoggle in the history of this country.

[@ryanfraley7113]

Maybe it’s got issues but look at the military industrial complex. We could easily have the same military for half the cost we spend each year. That’s 5x the total cost of Cal HSR each year into infinity.