To the editor: The statement from a spokesperson for the California High Speed Rail Authority in this article really caught my attention (“California withdraws lawsuit that sought to restore federal funding for the state's bullet train,” December 28). “Moving forward without the involvement of the Trump administration allows the Authority to apply global best practices tested and successfully used by modern high-speed rail systems around the world,” it said.
Actually? The project is years behind schedule and billions of dollars above budget. Is that a result of the Trump administration's erratic support?
The second part of that authority's statement is astonishing. Only now will it be possible to “follow proven global best practices”? Why couldn't these practices continue in recent years?
The project was authorized in 2008. Back then I had high hopes. However, here we are, 17 years later, with almost nothing to show for the effort put in all that time. I wonder how several European countries (not to mention Japan) have successfully built high-speed rail lines. What did they do well that we can't replicate?
Our bullet train project reminds me of the Gravina Island Bridge in Alaska, also known as the “Bridge to nowhere.”
Martin Parker, Thousand Oaks
