None of these news stories or opinion pieces reveal any familiarity with the realities on the ground of California transport. There is a niche for rail passenger - that's why we still have some Amtrak. The quotidian problem with intra California rail service is the lack of an effective and operational crossing of the Tehachapis.

The CAHSR planners should have from the beginning obsessed on this missing link. It is incredible they did not take account of the terrible cost/benefit ratio of their precious Mojave-Palmdale detour fixation. To make any fiscal sense it would have to be also usable by freight - in other words more Amtrak, the same as we have in the Valley now.

But an optimal Burbank to Bako HSR route via Tejon-Grapevine would have been possible within the monies available or obtainable. They could have dealt with the Ranch and paid off Sta. Clarita with some amenities and civil works and it would have succeeded and constituted the proof of concept.

So what if Bakersfield became somewhat of a bedroom community? A lot of towns love it, especially if they are a bedroom for rich people. There are worse fates,