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U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood Awards Nearly $1 Billion for California High-Speed Rail
U.S. Department of Transportation ^ | November 22, 2011 | U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood

Posted on 11/27/2011 10:25:17 AM PST by mdittmar

Building First Segment Will Employ More Than 100,000 People over Next Five Years


WASHINGTON - U.S.  Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today awarded a $928.6 million grant to the California High-Speed Rail Authority for initial construction of California High-Speed Rail. Construction will begin next year in Fresno, creating tens of thousands of jobs in California.

“California’s population will grow by 60 percent over the next 40 years,” said Secretary LaHood. “Investing in a green, job creating high-speed rail network is less expensive and more practical than paying for all of the expansions to already congested highways and airports that would be necessary to accommodate the state’s projected population boom.”


Today’s grant, when combined with voter-approved state support and previously-awarded federal dollars, will fund the construction of the first usable segment of the California system in the Central Valley. In the recently released business plan, the Authority embraced a phased implementation similar to those used for international systems.  The first construction project will put more than 100,000 people to work during the next five years. Over the course of the network’s construction, more than one million jobs are expected to be created, and the economic activity spurred by the new system is expected to add up to 450,000 new non-high-speed rail jobs to the California economy by 2040. 

California’s 220-mph high-speed rail system will connect to the rest of the state’s transportation network, improving local, regional and international mobility. Travelers moving throughout the state will connect to local transit and commuter service to reach their final destinations, reducing the need to add more highway trips through a state that is home to six of the ten most congested metropolitan areas in the nation. A recent study by the Texas Transportation Institute found Californians consumed more than 38 million gallons of fuel while stuck in traffic last year.

California is one of thirty-two states across the U.S. and the District of Columbia that are laying the foundation for high-speed rail corridors that will link Americans with faster and more energy-efficient travel options. To date, the U.S. Department of Transportation has invested $10.1 billion to put American communities on track towards new and expanded rail access and improved reliability, speed, and frequency of existing service.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: anything4abuck; boondoggle; boughtandpaid4; bullettrain; california; doubleclicktoday; goldenfleeceaward; highspeedrail; nevada; raylahood; reid; rino; sellout; ustransdept; whiteelephant; williegreen
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To: upchuck; John Robinson

Sorry for the double post. The 503 errors are troublesome.


41 posted on 11/27/2011 11:50:09 AM PST by upchuck (Rerun: Think you know hardship? Wait till the dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency.)
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To: mdittmar

California is one of thirty-two states across the U.S. and the District of Columbia that are laying the foundation for high-speed rail corridors that will link Americans with faster and more energy-efficient travel options. To date, the U.S. Department of Transportation has invested $10.1 billion to put American communities on track towards new and expanded rail access and improved reliability, speed, and frequency of existing service.
++++++++++++++++

Here is the current total miles of track that have already laid: Zero miles.

Note that this total is expected to increase over the next few years to: Zero miles.

We also have an estimate of the number of high speed rail projects that are expected to generate sufficient revenues to both pay off the $billions in bonds that were necessary to pay for these boondoggle projects as well as cover operating expenses. That total is: Zero.


42 posted on 11/27/2011 12:08:28 PM PST by InterceptPoint
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To: goldstategop

Willie Green always seemed so sad,use to try and cheer him up.


43 posted on 11/27/2011 12:17:09 PM PST by mdittmar
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To: InterceptPoint

The $1 billion is not sufficient to cover even the distance between Borden and Corcoran - with California voter-approved bonds added to the mix, that adds up to $4 billion and there is no stable and reliable revenue source to finance the complete, projected cost of the entire project.

Its a joke!


44 posted on 11/27/2011 12:20:15 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: InterceptPoint

The $1 billion is not sufficient to cover even the distance between Borden and Corcoran - with California voter-approved bonds added to the mix, that adds up to $4 billion and there is no stable and reliable revenue source to finance the complete, projected cost of the entire project.

Its a joke!


45 posted on 11/27/2011 12:20:20 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: mdittmar

In 2010, the median household income was $52,026. So, for every $1 million that government wastes, it destroys the income (and jobs required for that income) of about 20 median households. For every $1 billion, it is about 20,000 jobs.

Not only is this HSR project an outrageous waste, but its operational, upkeep and depreciation will be even a greater burden that will be perpetual.

The project’s civil engineering works will be a perpetual monument to the politicians who supported it, just as the defunct wind power units are becoming.


46 posted on 11/27/2011 12:39:34 PM PST by theBuckwheat
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To: mdittmar

Somewhere, Willie Green is smiling.


47 posted on 11/27/2011 12:41:57 PM PST by sport
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To: theBuckwheat

As far as I can see, there is no practical demand for something that is at best decades away from being delivered.

But it does aussage the vanity of current politicians and allows them to pretend they are meeting future transportation needs. No such thing will happen with the bullet train.

Like everything else that’s wrong about liberal politics, its form over substance.


48 posted on 11/27/2011 12:49:42 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: theBuckwheat

As far as I can see, there is no practical demand for something that is at best decades away from being delivered.

But it does aussage the vanity of current politicians and allows them to pretend they are meeting future transportation needs. No such thing will happen with the bullet train.

Like everything else that’s wrong about liberal politics, its form over substance.


49 posted on 11/27/2011 12:49:49 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: mdittmar

Projected final cost: $20 billion.


50 posted on 11/27/2011 12:50:27 PM PST by Huskrrrr
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To: mdittmar

More money from the successful states to the failing ones.


51 posted on 11/27/2011 12:52:06 PM PST by comps4spice (Liberalism is a threat to life and liberty in the USA.)
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To: Huskrrrr

Its actually closer to a trillion dollars if its all built as envisaged.

It will never happen. I have yet to find ONE person in California who actually wants to ride this thing.

Train technology is obsolete. Something better, cheaper and faster in the way of transportation will emerge in the next twenty years. It won’t be the bullet train.

Liberals are fixated on a 19th Century mode of transportation of no relevance to the present and future needs of our society.


52 posted on 11/27/2011 12:55:38 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Huskrrrr

Its actually closer to a trillion dollars if its all built as envisaged.

It will never happen. I have yet to find ONE person in California who actually wants to ride this thing.

Train technology is obsolete. Something better, cheaper and faster in the way of transportation will emerge in the next twenty years. It won’t be the bullet train.

Liberals are fixated on a 19th Century mode of transportation of no relevance to the present and future needs of our society.


53 posted on 11/27/2011 12:55:46 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Huskrrrr

Its actually closer to a trillion dollars if its all built as envisaged.

It will never happen. I have yet to find ONE person in California who actually wants to ride this thing.

Train technology is obsolete. Something better, cheaper and faster in the way of transportation will emerge in the next twenty years. It won’t be the bullet train.

Liberals are fixated on a 19th Century mode of transportation of no relevance to the present and future needs of our society.


54 posted on 11/27/2011 12:55:53 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: mdittmar

With the state of California the way it is, we should probably be content just to have a Bullet Bus.


55 posted on 11/27/2011 1:19:07 PM PST by bubbacluck (Proud Hobbit with no intention of going back to Middle Earth.)
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To: mdittmar
The first leg of the CA line will be ready in 7 years.

It will run from Merced to Bakersfield and cost about $90 for that run.

56 posted on 11/27/2011 1:35:59 PM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Mariner

I think you’re being sarcastic. No way it could be built in 7 years. That is if they manage to break ground on a line few people will actually ride.


57 posted on 11/27/2011 1:43:52 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: mdittmar

LaHood already announced that the DOT will no longer have the priority of promoting motorised transportation.

The UN defined the use of fossil fuels and automobiles as not sustainable in 1992.

This is Agenda 21 in action which is nothing less than an economic attack on the U.S. which has been ongoing since 1994 with Ex. Order 12852 and others.


58 posted on 11/27/2011 2:00:57 PM PST by Captain7seas (FIRE JANE LUBCHENCO FROM NOAA)
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To: mdittmar

Agenda 21: Concentrate the population


59 posted on 11/27/2011 2:16:41 PM PST by Iron Munro (Unattended children will be towed away at the owners expense)
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To: Captain7seas

Its not a big secret. The Left has long wanted to get people out of their cars and force them to rely on public mass transit. Its backing of HSR is in keeping with that objective.


60 posted on 11/27/2011 2:23:48 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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