After two-year delay, construction on California's bullet train is set to start

[uhnope]

Source: LA TIMES

California's bullet-train agency will officially start construction in Fresno this week on the first 29-mile segment of the system, a symbol of the significant progress the $68-billion project has made against persistent political and legal opposition.

Over the last two years, the California High-Speed Rail Authority has prevailed in a series of court challenges to the project, won a federal exemption from state environmental rules, secured several key legislative victories that improved its future funding and made a politically savvy bet to move up by several years the inauguration of service in Southern California.

But the milestone marked by Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony also will serve as a reminder of the enormous financial, technical and political risks still faced by the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco project.

Rail officials haven't yet lined up funds needed to complete the initial system over the next 14 years. Construction is starting two years later than the state had promised. Acquisition of private property is going slower than expected. And they have yet to finalize legal agreements with two of the nation's most powerful private freight railroads that are concerned about how a bullet train network will affect their operations.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-bullet-construction-start-20150105-story.html#page=1

[randys1]

1. Thank god america hating teaparty dont have anything to say about what happens in CA

or this would never happen

[OnlinePoker]

2. Maybe you could say it was being built by Dagny Taggart using Rearden Steel

That would be a Randian wet dream.

[randys1]

15. Online poker eh...must be bored...unless you are offshore, so to speak

wonder if they will ever legalize it again?

[OnlinePoker]

18. In Canada, it's never been illegal. n/t

[ripcord]

13. Republicans have already said that they will not approve anymore federal money for this project.

[randys1]

14. Republicans are assholes, too

[SunSeeker]

3. This will really benefit isolated places like Fresno and Bakersfield, who really need it.

Not only will the construction provide a ton of good-paying jobs to these economically depressed places, but it will be a huge stimulus even after it's built.

The increased mobility available through high-speed rail is another point in its favor. Economies tend to experience more even, healthy growth when people can easily get from place to place, no matter what their economic class or social status might be. With costs at a fraction of those associated with air travel, and travel times cut down radically from cars or inefficient public transit, the technology of high-speed rail could revitalize communities.

Particularly those along the fringes. Those who live in "second-tier cities" like Bakersfield and Fresno can access the benefits of urban living through high speed rail — including culture, better medical care, and increased employment options. High-speed rail also tends to encourage dense, sustainable development around stations and terminuses, creating new communities and new opportunities. Even if residents can't find local employment, their commute is just a few minutes away on a train going hundreds of miles an hour.

This represents huge opportunities for residents of disadvantaged rural communities in the U.S. Rural residents are among the poorest, least educated, and least empowered of Americans, thanks to their isolation. All that could change with high-speed rail connecting to their communities or nearby locations. The painful journey from Fresno to San Francisco, for example, could become a short and pleasant trip on a train.

http://theweek.com/article/index/265776/the-case-for-high-speed-rail

What's crazy is all the opposition to this train from very red rural California...like Fresno an Bakersfield. Republicans are always voting against their own interest.

[Piedras]

4. California High-Speed Rail Official Groundbreaking Ceremony

High-Speed Rail Official Groundbreaking Ceremony video of the ceremonies.

At noon today, Governor Jerry Brown will join other leaders as the California High Speed Rail Authority breaks ground on the project in Fresno. You can watch the ceremony live here.

Today’s groundbreaking represents the culmination of literally decades of work to bring high speed rail to California, going back to Jerry Brown’s first two terms as governor. But more importantly, it represents the end of six years of political and legal wrangling. After California voters approved the high speed rail project and gave $9 billion to fund it at the November 2008 election, NIMBYs living on or near the proposed route, did everything in their power to prevent HSR from being built. They sued at every possible opportunity, and lobbied the Legislature to deny authorization to sell the Prop 1A bonds.

Those efforts delayed the project’s groundbreaking, originally planned for 2012. But in 2014 the opponents were handed a series of decisive defeats. The Legislature had already voted to authorize the sale of the Prop 1A bonds in 2012. In June 2014 they agreed to give 25% of the cap and trade revenue to HSR, which gives a big boost to the project’s finances for years to come. NIMBY lawsuits also fared badly, with the state Supreme Court siding with the Authority and then the federal Surface Transportation Board ruling at the end of 2014 that their approval trumps CEQA.

So today’s groundbreaking is about more than just starting construction. It represents a very real turning point, the moment when HSR stops being an idea and becomes reality. That in turn will change the politics around HSR. No longer will it be realistic to talk about HSR as a possibility, as something that might not happen. And it will no longer be realistic to talk about major route changes, like bypassing the Central Valley cities by going along I-5. Instead the discussion will finally be about the details – whether to build a tunnel from Palmdale to Burbank, how to finish funding the project, and so on.

www.cahsrblog.com/2015/01/the-end-of-the-beginning

[americannightmare]

5. About damn time!

Now let's have it go all the way up the coast to Vancouver BC!

[CountAllVotes]

8. I wish that would happen as well

There is very little public transportation on the north coast available. It prevents commerce, trade and also the viability of living in the most beautiful part of California, the Golden State.

[americannightmare]

12. If we had been on the ball from the get-go...

we would have insisted on high-speed rail, with bus connections taking us to the coast (if not more trains), and trolleys running through the coastal cities so people visiting by train/bus could get around. Instead we allowed this single-minded focus on the freedom of the individual automobile, which will ultimately lead to our destruction.

[JDPriestly]

6. Can't wait to try it out. I love trains.

[SoapBox]

7. Was listening to a story on the radio tonight about this...

It all sounds good...but OMG...the cost is unbelievable.

I'm very apprehensive.

[greiner3]

9. And as history has shown;

The first Republican governor and/or legislature will stop the project dead in its tracks (and yes, pun intended).

[Xithras]

10. But will it ever be FINISHED?

The real problem, as the article alludes to, is that the original voter bond only generated enough funds to build this initial 29 mile segment in the Valley. It was originally envisioned as a public/private partnership that would allow private funds to cover some of the construction expenses, and that never materialized. Federal funds have helped, but they also only cover a relatively small part of the project. And while the state budget is doing better, it's still not in good enough shape to contribute to the project in any substantial way.

Both the backers and opponents of the CHSR system agree on two points. 1) The only way this will ever be finished is through additional bond measures passed at the ballot box. And 2) polls conducted by BOTH camps clearly show that the majority of California voters do not support additional spending on the project (for a variety of reasons).

The hopes for its completion hinge on the assumption that, once construction starts, California voters will approve additional spending just to avoid wasting the money that has already been spent from the first bond. That's an incredibly naive position, given Californian's fickle voting history.

[MadDAsHell]

11. "won a federal exemption from state environmental rules"

Is this supposed to be a victory?

[Xithras]

16. It's talking about CEQA

The California Environmental Quality Act.

CEQA is fairly unique in the U.S. as it allows virtually anybody to file a CEQA suit against an alleged violator. Most of the suits have to do with EIR scoping, and whether or not the EIR adequately addressed an issue. Developers absolutely HATE CEQA, because simply filing a CEQA suit is usually enough to stop the project until the suit is resolved. Even if the court rules the suit invalid, it costs the developer time and money.

Here are a few examples of the kind of CEQA suits the train was facing: The train crosses the migration path of the endangered monarch butterfly, which is being considered for ESA protections. If the EIR didn't specifically examine the trains impact on the butterfly, a CEQA suit can be filed in an attempt to force the study, and to force concessions to protect the butterfly. Or, as an even worse example...the train tracks will be cutting many farms in two, and crossings will be limited. This will cause tractors to travel further in order to access both sides of their property. The increased tractor travel may increase air pollution. If the EIR didn't examine that possibility, anyone in the state could file to force its study. If they can convince a judge that it's a reasonable impact, the entire project will stop until the new report is completed.

The CHSR project was facing a tidal wave of suits from both sides. The Con's were going to use them to slow and stop the project by any means they could think of. CEQA suits offered them a way to do it. On the other hand, state environmental groups were also already starting to look at a barrage of CEQA suits after the Pacheco alignment was chosen, because the train will pass through BOTH the environmentally sensitive Pacheco Pass AND skirt a number of high risk wetland areas (the planned route will pass through wetlands just south...and upstream...of the San Louis and Merced National Wildlife Refuges, as well as through a number of other environmentally protected areas). They were also facing suits from potentially thousands of homeowners in the SF Bay Area and Los Angeles area, as EIR's also cover quality of life issues for those living along the planned route.

The exemption means that they can build it wherever they want, and however they see fit.

[F4lconF16]

17. I'm all for high-speed rail

But I worry that granting environmental reprieves may have unforeseen consequences. Do people have alternate methods of protecting areas? Anywhere else that they can submit a suit?