The article ... was HSR started backward? Not really. The Proposition places a lot of constraints on what can be done with the bond money, and provided nowhere near enough to credibly attack the mountains at either end of a Valley segment - Valley line was all that could reasonably be built. However, anything done to the "bookends" (Caltrain, and Metrolink from Sylmar to Anaheim) that would improve them for ultimate HSR use also qualifies, and inarguably should be done to maximize public benefit. The article mentioned $1/2 bil for Union Station improvements that hasn't been delivered - by whom? If it was fed money I can understand given the change of administration, but then why didn't Obama deliver considering how long the run-through tracks project has been around? Was it just lack of interest/attention by local politicians?

As for dumping electrification on the Valley segment that's under construction to save (and redirect) money, that makes tons of sense. Really, it does. For the foreseeable future, since the money just isn't there for big tunnels, the only trains that use it will be diesel-powered. So why spend several billion$ on wires that'll just rot? Sure, install all the conduit and foundations, don't be stupid. But don't bother for now with the expensive superstructure and spend that money in LA and on the Caltrain tunnel to the TBT (or even just some more grade seps - HSR will need to run fully separated anyway - as should most rail transit these days).

Then, if/when enough money for tunnels trickles in or develops into a revenue stream that can be reasonably bonded against, I'd argue that the LA connection over/through the Tehachapis should be Job 1. There are already a couple of ways into the Bay Area that passenger trains can (and do) use. Improvements north of Madera can be done piecemeal and would be used for a Sacramento connection anyway, regardless of which religion wins for how a high speed line reaches the Bay. But there is nothing usable now between Bakersfield and (LA, really Sylmar or Burbank where all the alternatives seem to merge onto Metrolink). For big picture and big money improvements, that's where the effort needs to go next.

And BTW, I was surprised when the pitch was made recently to extend HSR into downtown Bakersfield at a cost of several billion$. That.Is.Dumb under present circumstances. Better to retain options for where a Bakersfield station would go and how a line is best routed through the BFD area, since nothing done so far to design an appropriate line over (and/or through) the Tehachapis is really "set in stone" - hasn't reached final design or even close. Nothing faster or fancier than Amtrak trains (which finally will be able to reach their speed limit) will run on the HSR Valley line for a long time, so there should be no hurry to spend a lot of money south of where things end now. Maybe add a track to portions of BNSF to allow more trains, but that's about it.