The Mercury News and East Bay Times published an editorial today entitled “California should cut its losses on high-speed rail.” The key parts:
The reality is that the project has never been realistic. Fifteen years after it was put before voters, there’s still no path to completion. Costs keep rising, and now ridership projections for the system, if it ever opens, are declining sharply.
It’s time for state and federal officials to cut their losses, to stop throwing money at a project that probably will never be finished.
The following letter was published February 27th in the Times:
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Our organization, the Train Riders Association of California are rail advocates and high-speed rail supporters that have opposed California’s HSR project from the very beginning. We can confirm that your editorial “California should cut its losses on high-speed rail” is dead-on accurate: This is a project with no future.
Offering politicians a way to accomplish HSR at a reasonable cost has been a very lonely and fruitless task up to now. Our allies spent the last 15 years trying to stop the project in the courts, without success. Your voice could make it possible to finally stop this badly conceived project.
David Schonbrunn, President