Could Texas high-speed rail hit a speed bump this session? The Texas Tribune » High-speed rail developers have been eyeing a 240-mile stretch of mostly rural land sandwiched between the urban hubs of Dallas and Houston for years. Their goal: buy it up and build America’s first bullet train. But several rural landowners don’t plan on giving up their private property without a fight. And their supporters in the Legislature have filed so many bills that could disrupt Texas Central Partners LLC’s plans that there’s an entire subcommittee tackling the ongoing battle over the multibillion dollar project. Michelle2019-04-25T09:23:44-08:00April 25th, 2019|High-Speed Rail, Texas|
Can America Still Build Big? A California Rail Project Raises Doubts The New York Times » California’s newly installed governor, Gavin Newsom, in his first major address to lawmakers this month, sent the project into disarray. The governor announced that the project, which was expected to connect the Central Valley to Silicon Valley, would be dramatically scaled back because of exorbitant costs. Michelle2019-04-18T14:18:31-08:00February 25th, 2019|California, California High Speed Rail, Design-Build, High-Speed Rail, U.S. News|
Gavin Newsom says he would scale back the bullet train and twin tunnels if elected Los Angeles Times » If Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is elected governor as expected, he’ll keep building the state’s two contentious public works projects: the bullet train and twin water tunnels. But he’ll scale back both. Newsom will concentrate on completing a high-speed rail line from the San Joaquin Valley to the San Francisco Bay Area. As for the beleaguered water project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, Newsom will try to reduce its size to one tunnel. melodypecg2018-10-22T12:45:58-08:00October 11th, 2018|California, California High Speed Rail, High-Speed Rail, Project to Watch|
California bullet train picks its path between Burbank and Palmdale Los Angeles Times » The California bullet train would cut through Sun Valley, San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Agua Dulce, the state rail authority proposed Wednesday as it laid out its plans for the complicated route from Burbank to Palmdale — one of its most controversial and costly segments. Michelle2018-10-08T09:30:17-08:00September 19th, 2018|California, California High Speed Rail, High-Speed Rail, Project to Watch|
HSR projected real estate costs nearly double to $1.5 billion for Valley segment The Fresno Bee » And as engineers tinker and fine-tune the design of the three construction segments between Madera and Bakersfield, the overall number of parcels needed has grown, putting the agency even further behind – even as an economy in rebound after the 2007-09 recession sends real estate prices ever higher. Michelle2018-09-24T11:09:50-08:00September 14th, 2018|California, California High Speed Rail, Design-Build, High-Speed Rail|
Inflation and delays could add billions more to bullet train project costs Los Angeles Times » The California bullet train project has cost state taxpayers an average $3.1 million a day over the last year — a construction spending rate higher than that for the Bay Bridge, Boston’s Big Dig or any U.S. transportation project in recent history. But still it’s not enough, planners say. Michelle2018-09-24T13:15:11-08:00August 26th, 2018|California, High-Speed Rail|
