It’s for the Caltrain commuter system that serves the towns (and the city of San Jose) to the south of San Francisco.
Since I don’t think California should fund the bullet train, I don’t think the federal government should fund this, but allegedly funding is required by current federal law.
I think California should just use overnight sleeper train service between LA and SF.
I would never use the high-speed train.
Overnight bus service is what I used when I traveled between SF and LA (and LA and Sacramento).
“I think California should just use overnight sleeper train service between LA and SF.”
They should use buses. Faster and more reliable.
There are two ways by rail, SF-LA
One is by the coast. That’s a slow, rough route, lots of curves and tunnels, very scenic (the Amtrak Coast Starlight is the service on it) but because of the nature of the track and sharing with freight trains, the schedule is extremely variable. Its a nice train for riding, but not a good train to depend on.
The other is the San Joaquin Limited, runs through the Valley to Bakersfield, reliably. But no further. From there to LA its a bus.