The board of the California High Speed Rail Authority voted to build the first segment of the planned HSR trackage from nowhere to nowhere, and will carry no passengers:
Citing a need for jobs and fast approaching federal deadlines for funding, the California High Speed Rail Authority board Thursday unanimously approved construction of the first leg of the state’s proposed bullet train — a 65-mile section in the Central Valley that would not carry passengers until more of the system is built.
Costing at least $4.15 billion, the segment would run from the tiny town of Borden to Corcoran, an area hit so hard by the recession and agriculture declines that it has been dubbed the New Appalachia. Stations would be built in Fresno and Hanford.
Included in the plan are tracks, station platforms, bridges and viaducts, which would elevate the line through urban areas. The initial section, however, would not be equipped with maintenance facilities, locomotives, passenger cars or an electrical system necessary to power high-speed trains.
The board clearly believes that the state and the federal government will be forced to build the connecting segments in order to “save” the $4+ billion in sunk costs for this initial project (costs almost always balloon on major projects like this . . . final figure may well be double the headline number). In other words, they’re deliberately planning to blackmail the money out of future governments.
