The bullet train to nowhere. It’s a legislative pipedream created entirely by leftist democrats, serving us as a shining example of liberal stupidity. For more than a few years, this train scheme provided me with hours of compelling content on my incredibly popular San Francisco morning radio show.
The story begins way back in 1996. Golden State democrats established the California High Speed Rail Authority, declaring that a high-speed rail system would be environmentally, economically, and socially profitable. Their goal was to construct a bullet train, traveling at times close to 200-miles per hour, connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles. Never mind that those cities are already connected by two excellent freeways (I-5 and the 101). No, the democrats insisted we needed nearly four hundred miles of high-speed rail. In 2008, they conducted a study and swore to us they could build it in eight to eleven years, at a cost of $33 billion.
Upon sharing news of their “study” with my radio audience, my sidekick (the beautiful, talented, and hilarious) Katie Green quickly dubbed the plan, “The Bullet Train to nowhere.”
All these years later, the nickname rings truth as the proposed train line ranks up there as possibly the biggest single bureaucratic financial mess in the history of the United States.
I write about this boondoggle extensively in my most recent book, Climate Cult. But allow me to share just a few staggering tidbits of information the democrats don’t want you to know about their choo-choo train.
In 2008, California voters approved a Proposition providing $10 billion to fund a 380-mile high-speed rail line connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles. It was to be completed by 2020 with a total cost estimate of $33 million. Eventually, other connections would be constructed around the state. In 2012, federal taxpayers forked over $3.3 billion in Stimulus funding for the Bullet Train project.
Finally, in 2015, with Jerry Brown as governor, a groundbreaking ceremony was held, not in L.A. or San Francisco—but in Fresno. In case you are unaware, Fresno is over two hundred miles away from the originally proposed north-south rail corridor.
Governor Jerry Brown opened his remarks with a proclamation that was every bit as strange as the starting point location for this massive public works project: “…the high-speed rail links us from the past to the future, from the south to Fresno and north; this is truly a California project bringing us together today.”[1]
By the way, no one in the mainstream media asked why the starting point for this fiasco had been moved to Fresno.
Three years later (2018), state Republican legislators pushed for an audit which concluded that flawed decision-making and poor contract management left the rail system 15 years away from completion, with expected costs expected to be $77 billion.
Then, in 2019, newly elected Governor Gavin Newsom (a vocal proponent of the rail line) revealed that the 171-mile section of track planned for the Fresno corridor was now projected to cost $22.8 billion with a completion date of 2030.[2] Newsom said nothing about the original plan to link San Francisco and L.A.
In February 2023, unintentionally illustrating how this entire train project was fast becoming a communist style public works disaster, with great bravado the California High-Speed Rail Authority claimed to have reached a milestone. Their press release stated,
FRESNO, Calif. – The California High-Speed Rail Authority celebrated a historic milestone today, announcing the creation of more than 10,000 construction jobs since the start of high-speed rail construction. Most of these jobs have gone to Central Valley residents and men and women from disadvantaged communities.
…Today is an opportunity to celebrate jobs and what these jobs are creating. High-speed rail will revolutionize travel in California and contribute to a greener future, resulting in less congestion on our roads and at our airports.”[3]
Keep in mind, at the time of that press release not a single mile of track had been constructed, anywhere. Even more astoundingly, as of this writing, there remains no track laid!
Meantime, two months later an update from the High Speed Rail Authority quietly reported that the cost of the 171-mile segment (serving Fresno, Bakersfield, and Chowchilla) had shot up to $35 billion. That, of course, is even more expensive than the original proposed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. But even worse, the Authority stated the entire project—including the line from San Francisco to L.A.—was now estimated at $128 billion. As such, a new sucker had to be brought in to fund all these thousands of jobs. Enter Joe Biden, congressional democrats, and the federal taxpayer, who coughed up billions.
Several weeks ago, President Donald Trump stepped in to essentially say, “You’re fired,” as he cut off the federal money pipeline for train to nowhere. Democrats immediately threw a temper tantrum. As if to save face and appear fiscally responsible, Newsome has just signed a bill (AB 377) requiring the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority to create a funding plan which will update cost estimates, risk assessments and service initiation options.
Trust me. AB 377 is like putting lipstick on a pig’s snout. And the pig’s snout is California’s bullet train to nowhere.
[1]“California High-Speed Rail Authority Hosts Groundbreaking Ceremony,” Metropolitan Transportation Committee, January 27, 2015, (Governor Brown’s quote is verbatim), https://mtc.ca.gov/news/california-high-speed-rail-authority-hosts-official-groundbreaking-ceremony.
[2]Ralph Vartabedian, “New cost estimate for high-speed rail puts California bullet train $100 billion in the red,” Cal Matters, March 7, 2023, https://calmatters.org/economy/2023/03/california-high-speed-rail/.
[3]California High-Speed Rail Authority, “PHOTO RELEASE: California High-Speed Rail Celebrates Creating 10,000 Construction Jobs,” February 14, 2023, https://hsr.ca.gov/2023/02/14/photo-release-california-high-speed-rail-celebrates-creating-10000-construction-jobs/.