‘No justification to build’ high-speed rail

April 18, 2012

By Katy Grimes

The official recommendation is out from the Legislative Analyst’s Office – High-speed rail should not be built.

Duh.

That’s not a “duh” to the LAO; that’s a “duh” to all of the supporters and lapdogs who have been blindly ignoring the economic facts.

“We find that HSRA has not provided sufficient detail and justification to the Legislature regarding its plan to build a high-speed train system,” the LAO published in a report late Tuesday. “Specifically, funding for the project remains highly speculative and important details have not been sorted out.”

The Legislative Analyst went so far as to “recommend the Legislature not approve the Governor’s various budget proposals to provide additional funding for the project.”

But they did “recommend that some minimal funding be provided to continue planning efforts that  are currently underway. Alternatively, we recognize that the Legislature may choose to go forward with the project at this time. If so, we recommend the Legislature take a series of steps to increase the chance of the project being successfully completed.”

Read the LAO’s recommendations as well as the acknowledgment that high-speed rail would increase the dreaded greenhouse gas emissions “for many years.”

The report is not long, but is thorough. CalWatchdog has been writing about this for more than two years:

New High-speed rail plan runs over Prop 1A mandates

Social engineers drive bullet train

New High-Speed Rail biz plan crashes into reality

No Silver Bullet For Rail Plan

High-Speed Platinum Contracts

Why Jerry Will Kill High-Speed Rail

Choo-Choo Boondoggle Runs Off Cliff

Call It the High-Speed Gravy Train

High-Speed Rail Cost $22 trillion?

there are more stories: HERE

And the latest LAO report