California’s bullet train appears to have released a “High Case” estimate of $98.1 billion to prepare the public for much higher tunneling costs.
Breitbart News reported on March 9 that the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s (CHSR) new chief program officer, Roy Hill, had issued a 114-page “2018 Draft Budget” with a “Base Case” cost to build the 500-mile bullet train that had more than doubled to $77.3 billion, or $155 million per mile.
That compared to the $37 billion, $74 million-per-mile plan that Gov. Schwarzenegger and other advocates claimed when they convinced voters to pass Proposition 1A in 2008.
CHSR’s first comprehensive financial review in a decade acknowledged, “The worst-case scenario has happened.” But CHSR — for the first time — included a “High Case” estimate that warned costs could spike to $98.1 billion, or $196 million per mile.
In a stunning disclosure, Hill’s team admitted that after spending $5.4 billion over the past 12 years, CHSR has only “advanced to a 15 percent design in most of the segments, as documented in preliminary engineering reports.” Even more jarring, the final design of first 119-mile segment of track between Madera and just North of Bakersfield, which began construction last year, “has only “been advanced to between 65 percent and 100 percent.” – READ MORE
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