It was supposed to be the “Grand Central Station of the West.” And in 2010, every big-name Democrat in northern California was at the groundbreaking of the Transbay Transit Center in downtown San Francisco. Then-Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were there, as was then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and of course, then-mayor Gavin Newsom.
“I am sick and tired of hearing about how wonderful the transportation system is in France and Japan,” Newsom told reporters at the time. “Well, finally, California is going to get it right with this new high-speed rail, and that northern terminus will happen here with this project.”
Fast forward 15 years and something called the Salesforce Transit Center does exist on the site where the old San Francisco Transbay Terminal stood. And the station does serve as the primary bus terminal for the city, just as the old terminal did. But it still has not been connected to Caltrain, northern California’s commuter rail system. And high-speed rail? Forget about it.
Now-Gov. Newsom (D-CA) did hold another press conference at a groundbreaking just this month, this time in Kern County, California about 280 miles south of San Francisco. Newsom was there to celebrate “the beginning of the track-laying phase” of a key 22-mile stretch between the town of Wasco, California and the Kern-Tulare county line.
“We’re moving into the track-laying phase,” Newsom boasted, “completing structures for key segments, and laying the groundwork for a high-speed rail network.”
“Finally, we’re at the point where we’re going to start laying down this track in the next couple years,” Newsom continued. “Finally, the point where we’re going to start laying down the high-speed rail track after the track itself that will allow us to get the equipment and the track equipment specifically to lay down that track.”
In other words, Newsom isn’t even celebrating the fact that actual high-speed rail track is going to be laid. He is celebrating the fact that the construction of regular track that will bring in supplies for the high-speed rail track is finally just now starting to be built! The beginning of construction of the high-speed track itself is still years away.
“No state in America is closer to launching high-speed rail than California,” Newsom went on to brag, “and today, we just took a massive step forward. … As only California can, we’re building America’s biggest infrastructure project.”
Which is an odd claim to make because California first authorized money for its 494-mile high-speed rail project connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles in 2008 and has spent $33 billion so far while failing to complete a single mile of track. Not only that but the state has no plan on how to fund the additional $100 billion the project needs for completion and has no estimate for when the project will be completed.
Meanwhile, in Florida, Florida East Coast Industries began construction of a 235-mile high-speed rail line connecting Miami to Orlando in 2014. It finished the first phase connecting Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in 2018, and the full Miami-Orlando connection was finished in 2023. Florida East Coast Industries is now planning to add to its high-speed success by adding an additional 85 miles connecting Orlando and Tampa.
When California first started planning its high-speed rail system, it enlisted the help of SNCF, the French national railroad company, but the company pulled out of the project in 2011.
“There were so many things that went wrong,” SNCF project manager Dan McNamara told reporters. “They told the state they were leaving for North Africa, which was less politically dysfunctional. They went to Morocco and helped them build a rail system.”
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Morocco completed its high-speed rail system in 2018.
Maybe Newsom and the Democratic Party should try and match the competence of Morocco before comparing themselves to Republican-controlled states.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
