Darn! And there I bought all that track-side property to take advantage of eminent domain pay-outs!

I hear they're working on High-Speed ferries from Santa Barabara to Pacifica instead.

Hallelujah!

Thank you, govnah!

Dang. Had he campaigned on that platform, I would have voted for him. Fish tunnels too. Finally a whiff of sanity from the CA government.

Finally "some" rationality. Too bad he didn't kill the piece between Merced and Bakersfield. A train from nowhere to nowhere to be sure.

Former Gov Moonbeam must be peed off.

Too bad we won't get any of the billions we have already wasted on it back. This was a boondoggle from the start, they lied about the cost and estimated ridership to get the ballot passed, when they got caught after the election they basically said "Tough, it passed and you are paying for it". It has been mismanaged from the start, already cost us billions and for what? A partly completed bridge along highway 99 near Fresno?

And since Ah-nuld proposed this, China has built 18,000 miles of high speed rail.

The writing has been on the wall for a long time. However, this poses yet another obstacle for Menlo Park's grade separation efforts.

In anticipation of the blended Caltrain/HSR system, the High Speed Rail Authority became significant source of funding for grade separation projects along the Peninsula (San Mateo received something like $80M towards its construction of 3 grade separated crossing).

Looks like that well has dried up.

Good, now with HSR out of the way we can focus on the regional passenger systems that actually make sense, such as San Diego to LA, Sacramento to Richmond, Caltrain San Jose to SF. These systems must be grade separated, electrified, with modern stations, and last mile connections, etc. These systems actually move millions and make a real difference to improve people's lives. Should have started with these systems rather than being diverted by the shiny object that was HSR.

"..make sense, such as San Diego to LA, Sacramento to Richmond, Caltrain San Jose to SF."

What about those on the periphery of The Bay that commute insane distances every day just for a job?

Good to curtail this long troubled project. Hopefully the reduced scope will enable us to work out the kinks. Then perhaps we'll be able to build a more complete system that connects major population centers from a better planning and management base. I believe we need to be able to accomplish a project like HSR cost effectively. Of course we also need better regional transport. And better local transport. Traffic is terrible. But unless we're going to build more airports, and put a lot more airplanes in the sky, we're also going to need to find a way to do HSR. Others move large numbers of people by HSR between major cities (Tokyo to Osaka and Beijing to Shanghai are two HSR routes that I've taken). I hope we'll find a way to do this well too.

Make San Jose the hub for Bay Area to LA and use electrified Cal Train to take passengers to SJ to make the connection. That eliminates a lot of stops between SJ and SF for the bullet train. The only reason the Valley got involved was the needs for the votes to swing this in the legislature. I expect the train will deviate away from Hiway 99 to the I5 corridor and from there to SJ, where it will terminate. Capitol Corridor and Cal Train will then feed into SJ to connect to LA/SDiego. Ultimately, Sacramento will be the hub of another spur Oregon and Washington State, I bet. The Bay area is too crowded to superimpose High Speed Rail on the narrow isthmus of land that is the peninsula or through the East Bay west of the Oakland hills.

If HSR is ever going to work it needs to be sold HONESTLY to voters. IF that happens there might actually be a chance of it happening. But, I doubt HSR will ever be sold that way because it is ridiculously expensive and there are already hourly flights between SF an LA. Much cheaper than what HSR might actually provide. If we aren't lied to as we were before.

Sacramento should realize that people in CA love their cars (and planes). HSR will never work because it will always be too expensive.

Flights will be cheaper from SFO/SJC to SAN & LAX than HSR because it's commercial rather than subsidized, and there's competition.

I'm glad that the current governor realized not to keep throwing bad money after bad money. It's too bad we already spent so much on a boondoggle.

Newsom killing the project might be a clever way to take the dogs off the scent leading to where all the squandered billions went.

Whatever money is left in the CalHSR budget should be used to tear this aborted boondoggle down and return displaced people to their homes and property, instead of a pathetic attempt to save face by continuing the folly from Bakersfield to Merced.

Didn't take the rail fanboys long to recover from this body blow and get back to pushing our local rail boondoggle.

Breaking news from the Honolulu Star Advertiser:

"Feds subpoena Honolulu rail authority for construction documents"

"The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has been served with a sweeping federal subpoena seeking construction documents in connection with the $9.2 billion rail project, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser has learned"

Link: Web Link

This kind of puts Newsom's recent move into a whole new light. Are Federal subpoenas in to works for CalHSR?

"Are Federal subpoenas in to works for CalHSR?"

If not, they should be.

The California High Speed Rail authority is holding "community" meetings. Learned about the meetings via the City of Menlo Park's Weekly Digest. As per the blurb: "Despite a recent statement from Governor Gavin Newsom on the future of high speed rail in California, the California High Speed Rail Authority plans several community working group meetings in February and March to provide information and gather input on the San Francisco to San Jose and San Jose to Merced project sections.

"For more information about the project, visit the California High Speed Rail Authority website. For more information: Web Link If you want to receive the Weekly Digest notices diretly, you can sign up for them at the City's Notify Me Page

I guess HSR Authority figures they can tell the governor to go screw himself. Hubris or?

Get a car already, Millennials! And before someone starts squawking about the environment, know that one of my four cars is a Tesla. So I'm pretty sure climate change isn't going to be a problem!

The Merced to Bakersfield section will die a slow painful expensive death, I doubt it will ever open

The speculators who bought land on the rest of the route some of which will have the same fate

I've long predicted that an unused and abandoned section of train track between Merced and Bakersfield will eventually become a monument to government's attrocious spending and ineptitude.

Do you think the Feds are going to want their money back now?

Yes, Bob, I do think that!

Web Link