#FRESNO HIGH SPEED RAIL ROUTE FULL#

This train was originally supposed to connect California’s two main population centers: the Bay Area and the southern coast. There’s been too little oversight and not enough transparency.' 'The current project, as planned, would cost too much and respectfully take too long. What he said would change the trajectory of the project He addressed it almost immediately after he took office, in his first State of the State address. Newsom supports the rail line, but his position is complicated, because what he inherited was a rail project that was over budget and way behind schedule. Eugene Hoshiko and Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo Jerry Brown, center, displays signed legislation authorizing initial construction of California's $68 billion high-speed rail line at Los Angeles' Union Station Wednesday, July 18, 2012. Arnold Schwarzenegger, inspects a China's high-speed train at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Sept. Gavin Newsom, who was sworn in in January. Now, the baton has been passed to Democratic Gov. It was once championed by Republican Gov. Like Wisconsin, California's rail project has been passed from governor to governor. The process has delayed the project and driven the costs up significantly.īut the projects do share some similarities. When construction began, the state hadn’t acquired all of the land it needed, and land acquisition is currently ongoing. For miles and miles there was nothing there - no tracks, no rights of way. While, Wisconsin's rail project was what they called 'shovel ready,' meaning t he trains would have traveled along an existing rail corridor where land had already been purchased, California’s project essentially started from scratch. In 2010, the project received an additional $2.34 billion from the federal stimulus.

#FRESNO HIGH SPEED RAIL ROUTE FULL#

While that was more than the total high-speed rail funding in the federal stimulus package, it was never enough to fund the full project. It authorized $9 billion in bonding for a high-speed rail line to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles in less than three hours. It passed the same night Barack Obama was elected president. The state had a referendum, proposition 1A, on the ballot in 2008. A New TrajectoryĬalifornia's high-speed rail project predates Wisconsin's train debate.

But California is where a majority of the money went. It's not a perfect comparison because Wisconsin's rail line would have been a different kind of project. The biggest chunk - $624 million - would go to California, for a high-speed line linking San Francisco and Los Angeles.Įven in 2019, Walker is still taking a victory lap, saying difficulties with the California project vindicate his decision to block Wisconsin's rail line. Department of Transportation, New York, Illinois and Washington would all get pieces of it. The money would be sent to other states almost immediately. Scott Walker talks about his legislative agenda in his office at the State Capitol in Madison, Wis on Jan. 'I think the fact that we don't have a train between Milwaukee and Madison, and there's no other way the federal government nor anyone else can force it is a victory,' he said. The day it became official, Gov.-elect Walker told reporters Wisconsin had won.

It didn't take long after the 2010 election before Wisconsin found out what would happen to its share of the high-speed rail funding in the federal stimulus package.ĭuring his campaign for governor, and even after he won, Scott Walker said he wanted to keep Wisconsin's $810 million to spend on roads and bridges.Ībout a month after the election, the Obama administration made clear it would take back all but $2 million of Wisconsin's money - redistributing it to other states.

Fresno high speed rail route