Have been lurking, occasionally, but...

Rampant greed and political hubris were sufficient for the HSR debacle. Good old-fashioned stupidity was a factor, but really just an add-on. The idea, really, was that "CA is the ((n) within the top 10) biggest economy in the world. We need a HSR line, since everybody else has or is building one." So it was a to be political monument. Transportation function was a side issue.

Realistic HSR, nearly everywhere, competes mostly with private auto travel. It provides a competitive travel time over moderate distances, even counting transfer times at the endpoints and a few stops along the way. It's the ultimate first-class express train.

I also see Brightline (and the Illinois "high speed" 110 mph trains) as good examples of what would work in CA from a basic transportation standpoint, with grade separations and not too many stations. But you can't use the HSR bond money for that because of the way the politicians wrote the bond measure.

The current San Joaquin service, with the bus connection from Bakersfield to LA, takes 8-8 1/2 hours for the run. That's about an hour longer than a realistic (i.e. staying near the speed limit, 1 or 2 short stops, normal traffic congestion) Bay-LA driving time, so it's already close, and it's faster than Greyhound or even most Megabus/Bolt runs. I suspect that HSR money spent so far would make a good dent in building a good conventional (up to 200 kph) railroad over the Tehachapi someplace, allowing an all-train ride Oakland-LA in driving time or better. And no need for a "base tunnel" at Tejon or elsewhere - leave that for Hyperloop if it ever happens. But that's not a monument to political bigness; it's just plain transportation.

It truly escapes me why the local politicians in SoCal haven't pushed the LOSSAN stuff harder - we've known what's needed for almost 2 decades (when did I see the first modern run-through tracks and LOSSAN planning documents?), it's not rocket science, and most of it can be done piecemeal at individual project prices that are competitive with freeway work. Metrolink and NCTD have done a good job filling gaps in the double track at modest cost - but more work is definitely needed.