|
State rail officials are defending as reasonable their estimates that passengers will take at least 29 million trips a year on high-speed trains between San Francisco and Los Angeles by 2040.
California High-Speed Rail Authority leaders acknowledge they have "a lot of damage to undo" with Valley farmers and property owners along the route of the proposed train system.
SAN FRANCISCO -- The overhaul of California's high-speed rail project could bring the Bay Area $1 billion to electrify Caltrain, and lay the path for bullet train service between San Francisco and San Jose sooner than anticipated.
America's top transportation official offered a spirited defense of high-speed rail plans Wednesday in Fresno but said that he and other supporters are aware of "serious concerns that people may have."
The House committee writing a massive transportation bill included an amendment late Thursday that prohibits new federal funds from going to California's embattled high-speed rail program.
Fourteen construction companies are on the short list of firms poised to bid for contracts to begin building California's high-speed rail system in the Fresno area later this year.
California's high-speed rail project will cost far less than the state's current estimate of nearly $100 billion and environmental fees paid by carbon producers will be a source of funding, Gov. Jerry Brown said in an interview aired in Los Angeles on Sunday.
The ranks of local government agencies in the central San Joaquin Valley that have turned their backs on California's proposed high-speed rail system is growing.
Despite a growing chorus of critics, the incoming head of the California High-Speed Rail Authority board remains confident that "the fundamentals of high-speed rail in California are strong" and that the central San Joaquin Valley is the place t
In yet another blow to California's troubled high-speed rail project, California's state auditor said this morning that the project's financing is "increasingly risky" and its oversight inadequate.
As Spain's high-speed rail system connects major urban centers and smaller provincial capitals, it also runs across fertile agricultural regions. Rail officials say the Spanish government went to great lengths to minimize effects on farms.
There are lessons -- from both successes and mistakes -- that California can learn from Spain's 20-year history with high-speed trains. Top among them is just how hard it is to be self-sufficient, even when conditions seem ideal.
BARCELONA, SPAIN -- Money wasn't a big obstacle when leaders in Spain decided in 1986 to build a high-speed train system.
Bee staff writer Tim Sheehan held a live chat Jan. 17 about his special report about Spain's 20 years of experience with high-speed rail and how it reflects on California's controversial bullet train project.
Reporter Tim Sheehan's stories today about lessons learned from high-speed rail in Spain come at a critical juncture, when the debate about bullet trains in California is about to reach the Legislature.
Also online: Videos / Fresno Beehive / CentralValleyMoms.com / Clovis Independent / Fresno Famous / Vida en el Valle / Sierra Star
Contents of this site are © Copyright The Fresno Bee. All rights reserved.
