AOL / AP: California’s high-speed rail project reaches a milestone Tuesday as officials mark the start of work on the nation’s first bullet train, which is designed to whisk travelers at 200 mph between Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than three hours.
The ceremony in Fresno comes amid challenges from Central Valley farmers and communities in the train’s path who have sued to block it and from Republican members of Congress who vow to cut funding for the $68 billion project. Opponents also say the state can’t deliver the sleek project as it was first promised…
Californians in 2008 approved a nearly $10 billion bond for the train, and in 2012 the Obama administration dedicated $3.3 billion in stimulus funds. The state Legislature last year dedicated to the project a portion of the greenhouse gas fees collected under the state’s cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gases… (more)
EDITOR: The tragedy is that it did not get underway by at least 2010 when it would have sped along recovery from the Great Recession. If it works out well, it likely will stimulate endeavors to create a true bullet train between Boston and Washington,
D. C.
