California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars. They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a “green” disaster!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019
Fake news. We’re building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond.
This is CA’s money, allocated by Congress for this project. We’re not giving it back.
The train is leaving the station — better get on board!
(Also, desperately searching for some wall $$??) https://t.co/9hxEfEX8Vm
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 14, 2019
In engaging Newsom on the matter, the President tipped his hand on where he places high speed rail on a list of infrastructure priorities. This follows a statement last year by U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao that “there is no deal” for the federal government to supply half of the cost of building new rail tunnels under the Hudson River linking Penn Station with New Jersey.
Meanwhile, Midwest High Speed Rail Association Executive Director Rick Harnish contends that Newsom’s revisions are valid. He notes they are consistent with the California High Speed Rail Association’s original plan to make the Central Valley segment a 200 mph test bed, but only as long as the tracks now being built host electrified trainsets capable of those speeds.
“They did the right thing by starting in the Central Valley,” Harnish tells Trains News Wire. But to pave the way for future expansion to Los Angeles and San Francisco, as Newsom claims, “acquiring high-speed trainsets and demonstrating their capabilities is absolutely essential in getting the political support to move forward,” Harnish says.
He also points out that, until Tuesday, the agency had only planned to first operate on a 116-mile Bakersfield-Madera portion, mainly because the proposed route north of that point would head west through the mountains to the coast. Completing a full 160 miles to Merced, Harnish says, “creates a hub that connects with an already-funded Altamont Commuter Express expansion from Stockton, Calif., with the potential of utilizing conventional service on an upgraded ex-Western Pacific route across Altamont Pass currently hosting ACE rush hour trains between Stockton and San Jose.”
Harnish says terms of the federal grant only dictate that speeds of the new trackage be at least capable of 125 mph, so California has a pivotal decision to make. But the original plan was to entice competing manufacturers into bidding on the statewide project. That could still happen, he argues, because Siemens, Talgo, Stadler, and Alstom (now building Avelia Liberty trainsets for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor) all have “off the shelf” equipment that complies with newly-revised Federal Railroad Administration crashworthiness standards.
Drawing an international parallel with a country that has prioritized high speed rail investment for nearly 40 years, Harnish notes that the main spine of the first French TGV system, opened in the early 1980s, was no more than 120 miles long. “The first segment ran between the suburbs of Paris and the suburbs of Lyon,” he says, “and look what happened after that.”
