![]() The roughly $10 billion cost increase on the Merced to Bakersfield line includes $3.9 billion mostly for the decisions to have elevated stations and track realignments in Merced and Bakersfield $2.1 billion for higher inflation and $3.7 billion in contingency or reserves for future cost increases. "It is clear that additional funding will be necessary to deliver the…operational Merced to Bakersfield system for passenger service," the report says. There could be additional jolts of sticker shock when those costs are added in the future. The $128 billion price tag does not include cost updates for two separate segments between Palmdale and Anaheim, because the rail authority in the past has not updated costs until it completes environmental assessments. It is important that they get something done." There is no path forward for the full Los Angeles to San Francisco system. What's worse, that full system cost is set at up to $128 billion in the update, leaving a total funding gap of more than $100 billion for politicians to ponder.Įthan Elkind, who watches California transportation issues as director of the climate change program at UC Berkeley's law school, said the mounting problems cloud the project's future. The cost of that partial system is now higher than the $33 billion estimate for the entire 500-mile Los Angeles to San Francisco system when voters approved a bond in 2008. New cost figures issued in an update report from the California High-Speed Rail Authority show that the plan to build the 171-mile initial segment has shot up to a high of $35 billion, exceeding secured funding by $10 billion. That's raising fresh concerns about the future of the nation's largest infrastructure project. ![]() Today, the blueprint is fraying - costs now exceed future funding, an official estimate of future ridership has dropped by 25%, and the schedule to start to carry people is slipping. Gavin Newsom unveiled his scaled down blueprint for the California bullet train four years ago, he proposed building a 171-mile starter segment in the Central Valley that would begin operating in 2030 and cost $22.8 billion. Courtesy California High-Speed Rail Authority. A view of the McCombs Road Grade Separation project in Kern County in 2022, which is part of the planned high-speed rail route.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |