A transportation option that virtually everyone will use during their traveling life is still struggling to get going, and those fighting for it need to continue as it is probably one of the most important initiatives in California’s transportation future.
High-speed rail shunted to slow track
Wrangling over state budget may kill project, supporters fear.
By Tony Bizjak - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, June 14, 2007
Assemblywoman Fiona Ma recently got a heart-thumping preview of what she hopes is her state's transportation future.
On a "fact-finding" trip to France with Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez -- paid with campaign funds, Ma said -- Ma scored a seat on that country's newest bullet train as it hit a world record 357 mph.
"We took off at like twice the speed of a commercial airliner," said Ma, D-San Francisco, who admitted to a touch of nervousness. "An airplane was whizzing next to us, we were going so fast."
Such is not the case for high-speed rail on the home front.
After a decade of planning and an estimated $40 million spent, California's dream of 2 1/2-hour rail trips between San Francisco and Los Angeles is stalled at the station this month -- and some say may never come true -- as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators tussle over funding.
