Sad to say, but instead of taking the easy way out the original section should have been Bakersfield to LAUPT (or whatever they call it now). With any luck, even if they had failed financially they would have created a usable link.

Reality bites - and have they even began the cantenary or train acquisition yet?

And don't forget the dirty little secret they haven't admitted to - those high speeds and ability to conquer any grades (including ramps to grade separations) plus accelerate from numerous station stops is the result of absolutely overpowering the living *#$*@#% out of the train, which uses tons of power and potentially creates huge surge demands on an already fragile/obsolete power network.

HSR as well as PSR are just BS acronyms for the latest snake oil they're trying to sell.

There were many other ways to invest that money into improving Kalifornia's passenger rail infrastructure.