Senate Transportation Vice Chair Strickland: Sacramento’s $87 Billion Train Off the Rails, Proposition 1A Promise Broken

California’s long-delayed and grossly over-budgeted high-speed rail project could be operating the Central Valley line by 2032, a new report quietly released Friday by the High Speed Rail Authority says. However, rail authority officials also admit that they will need significantly more funding to complete the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles line.

It appears they are scraping the long touted Bakersfield to Merced line.

“I see clearer now more than ever the potential for this transformational project, one that can reshape the state and our society for the better. I see a future — by 2038 to 2039 — when operations are already connecting the Central Valley to population centers and innovation hubs, offering new career opportunities, economic mobility, affordable housing, and a cleaner environment,” Ian Choudri, Authority CEO said. “A system that is efficient, sustainable, and equitable. A system that connects us to each other and to the world around us.”

Senator Tony Strickland (R-Huntington Beach), Vice Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, criticized the latest supplemental project update from the California High Speed Rail Authority, which outlined a proposed rail line from Gilroy to Palmdale at a cost of $87 billion.

“Sacramento Democrats keep moving the goalpost on this failed project with decades of delays, rising costs, and endless raids on cap-and-trade revenues. The only thing high speed about this bullet train is the speed at which they waste our money. I have serious concerns about voter deception, as the latest Gilroy-to-Palmdale plan may not comply with the legal travel-time requirement outlined in Proposition 1A.

“As the saying goes, ‘The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.’ The unfortunate truth is that this bullet train will never be built as voters approved in 2008. It’s time to be honest with Californians, cut our losses, and stop writing blank checks.”

In 2008, when voters approved Prop. 1A, it included the “Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21^st Century” provision of the California’s Streets and Highways Code. According to Section 2704.09 of the code, it sets strict maximum nonstop travel times for each corridor, including the San Francisco-Los Angeles corridor, at 2 hours, 40 minutes. Senate Transportation Vice Chair Strickland stated that if the CHSRA moves forward with its new project proposal, it must return to the voters for approval, as the updated plan does not meet the requirements that were originally approved.