Oh, wait a second, that line is from a fictional movie out of Hollywood, my bad 🙂

That’s true, MG, but they already ran into a buzz saw when they tried to run this insanity train down the people’s throat in the San Fernando Valley.
People showed up at the HSR produced meetings nearly with pitchforks and torches to protest. The HSR folks ran from the valley still picking tar and feathers off their backsides.
Maybe HSR thinks it will be an easier sell in the uber green Bay area where the enviros still have a strange fascination with 18th century technology like choo-choo trains.
I suspect you are right. It will be a virtual hell for HSR up there also. The anti everything NIMBY’s will come out of the woodwork to shut this down.
I’ve noticed a curious phenomena that seems to occur whenever Brownie and his cohorts propose another looney idea. The strategy is avoid legitimate public opposition by going under it.
So it’s always the same. Can’t sell the public on HSR in San Fernando Valley? Answer: Build a 30 mile long tunnel through the earthquake prone Tehachipis.
Can’t build a surface canal through the Delta because of public opposition? Answer: Build a very dubious,costly and possibly unconstructable 35 mile, twin 33 foot diameter set of tunnels under it. Same thing for the 7 mile extension of the 710 freeway in Glendale. The answer is always to go underground.
But the cost implications of all these tunnels is enormous and makes each of these projects even more ridiculous than they already are.
So here’s my prediction: When the stuff hits the fan in the Bay, expect HSR to propose a forty mile tunnel though the coast range into the South Bay area.
I doubt this Brown Streak train will ever be constructed. Especially after Moonie leaves office in 2018 and sanity instead of vanity finally sets in.

Since state law says that the system MUST OPERATE WITHOUT A TAXPAYER SUBSIDY, the end results may necessitate higher fares per mile, compared with other similar rail systems worldwide, this will adversely affect ridership projections. Thus, it’s understandable that an investment in the bullet train provides significant ROI risks to that invested capital.

The bullet train will be competing against the multitude of airports in CA as well as the constantly developing technologies that are affecting the way we do business. Just like the land phones that have become obsolete as a result of cell phone technologies, future travel needs may be impacted in the coming decades as a result of the ever growing virtual world.

Driving or flying from a multitude of airports can be done at virtually any time of day, but the inflexibility of how many train departure times would be available from a limited number of trains would impact the convenience factor offered by cars and planes and thus also adversely affect train ridership. The snowballing effect of lower ridership would be higher fares for those that do use the train as there would be no state subsidies available. Lower ridership would further impact the ROI risks for invested capital.

This is GREAT NEWS, and I think it needs tyo be codified into LAW,
ALL Cost Overruns for the High Speed Rail project, formally known as the “Browndoggle” SHALL be paid for through a Separate Assessment on Wages, Salaries, and Retirement Income on ALL PUBLIC EMPLOYEES in the State.