My dear Messrs. . Rasputin, Wyss, & PEEdeeex: Anent HSR2 in England. This is to compare apples with papayas, if you mean to apply these arguments to California.
Mr. Wolmar makes cogent arguments against the proposed routing, yes, and makes seminal, detailed points about railways around the world, but other than well-heeled Tory NIMBY'S objection to the routing through their viewshed (comparable to the reactionary blockheads in my former SJ Valley home), the two situations barely parallel each other. And if you "Taxpayers" think that government is overweening and overbearing here, then I invite you to investigate what a public inquiry in English law entails, for it's not impossible that that is where the whole kerfluffle is headed. In my 30 years of rail travel in the UK, I can readily attest that silly stuff occurs (and for a century and a half before that!), but HSR1 was fought tooth and nail by the burgers of Kent and took ten years to build after the opening of the Channel Tunnel, in contrast to France , which had completed the HS roadbed prior to its opening, much to the later chagrin of HM government, Labour and Tory BTW,
Christian Wolmar.co.uk is a good portal to nuts-and-bolts, no nonsense reporting on Britain's on-going railway drama and while his style of writing takes a little getting used to, his books on British railway history, the history of the Underground and lines further afield are treasures in themselves. P.S. He is presently campaigning for the Mayoralty of Greater London.