CALIFORNIA - Bullet Train to San Diego

"Hurry up, wait for San Diego high-speed rail" by Chris Nichols, San Diego Union-Tribune 11/2/2014

No construction money, completion date exists for San Diego section

Six years after voters green-lighted California’s high-speed rail network, San Diego remains firmly at the end of the project’s line, lacking any money to build track in the region and even an estimated date for when bullet trains could zip through.

Officials with the California High-Speed Rail Authority said there’s been incremental progress on the 167-mile Los Angeles-to-San Diego leg, and strong support for it on the agency’s board.

The local section, however, is far from the top priority of the embattled $68 billion project.

The focus now is on the Central Valley where federal funds are driving the start of 114-mile segment between Fresno and Bakersfield, which the state expects to complete by 2022.  Demolition work started in Fresno in July to make way for the initial segment.

Unless priorities change — which they can with the a vote by the Legislature — the state doesn’t expect to break ground on the San Diego-to-Los Angeles link until after it completes the even larger San Francisco-to-Los Angeles portion by 2029.

Over the past few years, updates on high speed rail in San Diego have slowed considerably.  Leaders at the region’s transportation planning agency have received just three reports on the topic since July 2012, with the last coming more than a year ago.

No land has been set aside in the region for the project’s eventual construction.  The state doesn’t have the money or environmental clearances to do so.

“We’re just not at that stage,” said Lisa Marie Alley, a spokeswoman for the rail authority.

A future in San Diego?

Notably, the rail authority is not at that stage for any section outside of the Central Valley.  Routes for the project are still being refined across the state, including the path through San Diego County, which is planned through Escondido along Interstate 15 and terminates at the San Diego International Airport.

Still, critics say the lack of tangible progress in San Diego County confirms what they’ve suspected for years:  That bullet trains may never crisscross the county.

“I think the chances of San Diego becoming a member of whatever the project becomes in the future is slim to none,” said Mark Leslie, president and CEO of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association.  “I think San Diegans should look at this as basically it was a bait-and-switch.  There were promises made, most of which were not followed.”

Questions remain about the overall project’s ridership projections and ballooning budget, which is up from its original $40 billion estimate but down from a nearly $100 million estimate from a few years ago.  The project, championed by Gov. Jerry Brown, has won key legal and funding victories over the past two years, securing $6 billion from the federal government in 2012 and revenue from the state’s cap and trade program this year.

Still, many of the region’s political leaders last week declined to comment or did not return messages asking them about the volatile project’s future in San Diego.

“There is a lot of support (for high speed rail) in San Diego.  But its silent support,” said longtime San Diegan Lynn Schenk, who has served on the rail authority’s board since 2003 and is a former congresswoman.