Talk about pouring money down a rathole. BARTD started out with directors appointed by the Governor but frittered away so much money it lost all credibility with the taxpayers. So the law authorizing BARTD was amended by the initiative process to make the directors stand for election. If you were ever exposed to the inefficiencies and over-layering of the BARTD buracracy, you'd be absolutely appalled. HSR will suffer a similar fate (at your wallet's expense too). The SNCF is part of France's gross national debt.