Analysis: California bullet trains may not leave station

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Reuters:

(Reuters) - All's good with California's planned multibillion-dollar high-speed train system, really.

The authority overseeing its launch released on Tuesday a statement heralding bright prospects for California if political leaders go forward with the 800-mile system.

"With its potential for running on 100 percent clean electricity, diverting growing numbers of travelers from crowded freeways and encouraging infill development in cities across California, the state's high-speed rail project will provide Californians an environmentally sustainable option for traveling throughout the state," the statement said.

Rather than conveying confidence, the statement suggests the authority is well aware its planned rail network is at serious risk of being derailed and that to survive it must be cast as a big green positive for a state that fancies itself an environmental leader and where dystopian fears run deep.

But state lawmakers, even those quick to wrap themselves in green mantles, aren't buying what the California High-Speed Rail Authority is selling -- and they may put plans for bullet trains zipping across the most populous U.S. state on hold.

State Senator Alan Lowenthal, who chairs a legislative committee overseeing the planned high-speed rail system, said lawmakers are losing patience with the authority and that a verdict on the rail system's fate could come in a few months.

"We're really waiting for October for when they give us a real financial plan," Lowenthal, a Democrat, said. "What the legislature is most concerned about is the financing, obviously, and the implications of the financing."

"Their plan was predicated on all this money coming," Lowenthal said. "It may be more wish than reality."
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The train to nowhere...