Posted on 07/17/2013 2:41:22 PM PDT by Olog-hai
A proposed high-speed train connecting suburban California to Las Vegas may have just been stopped in its tracks, after the Transportation Department halted the review of what would have been its largest taxpayer loan in history.
In a letter obtained by FoxNews.com, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood informed developer XpressWest that he would “suspend further consideration” of the company’s request for a $5.5 billion federal loan.
If approved, the loan would be the department’s largest ever. Though the project was a favorite of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, the request had been the subject of intense Republican criticism, as lawmakers cited concern about “subsidizing” a costly and potentially risky project at a time of mounting federal debt. Consideration of the massive loan also came as the government imposed across-the-board sequester spending cuts.
LaHood, in his June 28 letter to the company, cited “serious issues” with the application in the decision to cut the project off. He suggested the company was having difficulty ensuring that the project would be built with enough American products like U.S-made steel and iron. …
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Maybe the necessary pockets didn’t get stuffed.
Or maybe a more connected bidder is waiting in the wings.
Willie Green is deeply saddened.
” project would be built with enough American products like U.S-made steel and iron. …”
I wonder what using “enough” will add to the bill.
Think of how nice the crowd would be at that train station.
I thought LaHood retired a while back.
Well, that whole “government build trains” thingy does go back to Johnson and the Metroliner. They were promising 160-mph trains between New York and DC by 1969.
Really kind of weird that anybody would think it would take $5 Billion to build a high speed train from Victorville to Vegas, distance of a couple of hundred miles at most but would only take $100 million to build a 600 mile line from LA to SF.
Sounds like the payoffs involved are simply humongous!
You could write a book or movie just on the hopes and dreams of the outbound Friday traffic, juxtaposed with the Sunday riders, beat, broke, tired and depressed.
Ah, I get it now. I even posted it; the letter was dated June 28.
Name him, ping him.
No, I won’t. He can kma.
This project was weird from the beginning. The idea was to build a 186-mile railroad that was separated from the general railway network, from Victorville CA to Las Vegas.
Originally, this was all supposed to be done with private money (when it was still called DesertXpress); but only $1.4 billion got raised . . . and I don’t see how and why it couldn’t get built at $7.5 million per mile, since the top speed is supposed to be 150 mph (permissible on the general railway network, with FRA-directed upgrades) and not 186 mph or faster. Asking for an additional $5 billion raises the cost to $34 million per mile, which is way more than enough to build a 200-mph line in my estimation, especially if (as planned) it’s built on the side of the interstate highway.
"MONORAIL!"
L.A. being pretty much completely surrounded by difficult mountains really screws it when they talk trains. Same thing with this line up the Central Valley. How are they getting through the San Gabriels? Over the Grapevine?
Yes, but pinging him just emphasizes the he got the zot.
More salt?
Who cares? Millions per job is just the price we must pay. To compete with China. I heard it on FR.
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