Tag "rail authority"

Back to homepage

Did Rail Authority flout sunshine law?

At a recent meeting of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, a board member announced a closed executive session but provided no exception as required by the state’s sunshine law, citizen attendees said. State law requires government bodies to notify the

Read More

Japan’s 50th bullet train anniversary: What it says about CA

Oct. 1 marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of commercial operations for Japan’s bullet train system. The Shinkansen is by far the most successful bullet train network in the world. The British press and just about no one else

Read More

Feds abdicate on own rules for CA bullet train $

The Obama administration has given the state $3.5 billion in funds for its bullet train project. But the 2009 stimulus funds that were the source of most of the federal bequest came with lots of strings attached, as is common

Read More

Associated Press blows coverage of bullet-train ruling

Led by the Associated Press, the mainstream media coverage of the state appellate court ruling overturning two anti-bullet train trial court rulings is somewhat peculiar in that it depicts the ruling as monumental. Read the 49-page decision, and it seems

Read More

Bullet-train officials praise judge they called a threat to CA

The California High-Speed Rail Authority got some good news from the courts last week. The 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento upheld a lower court ruling rejecting legal challenges to the routing of the bullet train in the Gilroy-Las

Read More

Did governor file bid for quick appeal to block bullet-train revolt?

Why did Gov. Jerry Brown abruptly abandon his “stay-the-course” path on the $68 billion bullet-train project in late January? I’ve been poking around a bit and have come up with a theory and some evidence as to why the governor

Read More

An open letter to bullet-train board Chairman Dan Richard

Dan Richard was at it again in Saturday’s Los Angeles Times. LAT’s Ralph Vartabedian did a good job painting a downbeat picture of the bullet train’s prospects after negative legal and regulatory rulings. But he didn’t ask the question that blows

Read More

Bullet-train blog urges $29B in new CA taxes to save project

These are melancholy and bitter times for the California High Speed Rail Blog. Overseer Robert Cruickshank has reacted to Judge Michael Kenny’s rulings blocking the project by decrying the taxpayer protections in the 2008 ballot measure authorizing $9.95 billion in

Read More

Bullet train: Denial is a river in Sacramento

The meeting Thursday of the board of the California High-Speed Rail Authority was a laugh riot, with authority officials dismissing state and federal setbacks as much ado about nothing. This is from the Mercury-News: “SACRAMENTO — Critics and many political

Read More

End game on bullet train: No $, no project — and no prospects for $

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny’s issued a double-whammy ruling Monday. He barred the use of bond funds for the state bullet-train project until it had adequate funding and complete environmental reviews for its first 300-mile segment. He also blocked

Read More