Demands for outside appraisal of CA’n HSR gain speed

In the Cato Institute, Marc Joffe updates readers on California’s high-speed rail project—and nobody paying any attention is surprised. The HSR faces ballooning costs, declining ridership projections, and delayed launch dates, which has prompted calls for an independent review before legislators recommit.

As California State Senators learned on March 28, the state’s high‐speed rail project is continuing to disappoint. Expected ridership is declining, costs are rising, and the service inception date is falling back.

Reacting to the new projections, Lou Thompson, Chair of the independent California High‐Speed Rail Peer Review Group told legislators:

Given what we know of the project today, and given the financial demands facing the State, the Legislature may want to commission an independent review of the economic and financial justification for the project, including the ability to operate without subsidy as required by Proposition 1A, before recommitting to the full Phase I system….

While cost overruns are common in government infrastructure projects, the schedule deterioration is the most frustrating. By now we were expecting a fast trip from the Bay Area to Los Angeles and Anaheim. Instead, no track has been laid and we’re now told to expect service along a third of the original route sometime between 2030 and 2033.

And there are good reasons to believe that service will start much later than 2033, if it starts at all….

This article originally appeared in the CATO Institute. Read the whole thing here.

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