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   An artist’s rendition of the California high-speed rail. The project
   remains stalled.

   [ ] An artist’s rendition of the California high-speed rail. The
   project remains stalled. Photograph: Reuters

   California’s $77bn high-speed rail project promised “to transform how
   Californians travel”.

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   back as far as 1981, with the plan centering around connecting eight of
   the state’s largest cities, from San Francisco to San Diego. In
   offering an alternative source of transportation, high-speed rail
   advocates hoped they would finally solve the state’s notorious traffic
   issue and lessen the subsequent air pollution created by stalled
   vehicles.

California scales back plan for high-speed train between Los Angeles and San
Francisco

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   cost too much and take too long”.

   The California High-Speed Rail Authority, the state-run organization
   tasked with overseeing the project, came into fruition in 1996. It
   spent years developing a plan of construction and operation in
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   In 2008, voters approved almost $10bn in funding for a plan to to lay
   down hundreds of miles of new track, built upon elevated viaducts, to
   support a fully dedicated high-speed rail system.

   But years of protest, lawsuits, politicking and replanning forced the
   authority to rework its plans. Instead of a dedicated high speed line,
   it now proposed a “blending” approach; a practice of sharing existing
   transit infrastructure where it’s feasible.
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   Work on the first leg began in the Central Valley in October 2013, and
   trouble began from the start. The High-Speed Rail Authority broke
   ground before acquiring the land needed for construction or working
   with the local communities, failures that eventually forced them to
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   The report put the fault on “the authority’s flawed decision making
   regarding the start of high-speed rail system construction in the
   Central Valley and its ongoing poor contract management.”

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   expensive. Photograph: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

   Now, 13 years behind schedule, the high speed rail project is also
   currently about $44bn over budget.

   Meanwhile, opponents and supporters have dug in.

   Some Californians have been against the high-speed rail because it
   would cut through their beautiful landscapes. Others have questioned
   the high price tag of the project. “It’s an unambiguous money-waster at
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   housing policy for the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

   High-speed rail would not only ease the commute for those 200,000
   people, but it would lessen the air pollution created by their cars
   while they sit in traffic, Regan said – 40% of the state’s greenhouse
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   “Right now, there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San
   Diego, let alone from San Francisco to LA,” Newsom said. “I wish there
   were. However, we do have the capacity to complete a high-speed rail
   link between Merced and Bakersfield.”

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   there isn’t funding, the spokesman Nathan Click told Curbed SF, and
   Newsom later told ABC 7 that he is “fully committed to building
   high-speed rail between San Francisco and Los Angeles”.

   “I think the governor made it very clear that high-speed rail is still
   part of the long term plans,” Regan said. “I’m fully confident that in
   my lifetime, I will ride a very, very fast train out of San Francisco