In the media the rule for running a story is “If it bleeds it leads”. The High Speed Rail project has bled a great deal. That doesn’t mean it is dead. There is still major support for this project by powerful interests. There is also strong support by the public for better and economical rail passenger service. Few politicians will give up money that has been allocated and they can be very flexible to prevent that from happening. The State has to start construction this year to qualify for the 3 billion dollars in Federal High Speed Rail funds. There are plenty of rail projects in the State that have waited years for funding that can qualify for this money. To create faster rail service in California will require realism about future financing and avoiding pointless legal battles to shave off seconds in the running time. … If we just had rail service between Northern and Southern California which was time competitive with the auto: under 6 hours and cost competitive as well it would be a great start and heavily used. NB
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