Fast Tracking High Speed Rail

The group overseeing California’s bullet train says the project can be completed by 2028 with a price tag of $68.4 billion.

It is five years sooner than the most previous estimates and $30 billion less. However, it still costs $25 billion more than the plan California voters approved four years ago. The revised plan was released today by the California High Speed Rail Authority. Cost savings were made by utilizing existing rails and infrastructure in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. The Associated Press notes that $1 billion will go to electrify Caltrain between San Francisco and San Jose. The first segment of the high speed rail project will run from Merced to the San Fernando Valley, and is expected to be completed within 10 years.

The revised plan was put together at the direction of Governor Jerry Brown, who has been an adamant supporter of the project. Critics have called it the “train to nowhere.”