California is quite different from European countries with nationalized railways and extensive legacy electrified passenger train service. That's the CHSRA's problem - it wants to be both a TEE and hsr at the same time. It needs to choose one or the other.

I suggest the best approach is to go for broke, sort of a high speed express BART without all the technical mistakes. Build a truly high speed express demo from the outskirts of the Bay Area to LA via I-5 and the Grapevine. The urban extensions will come in time.

Personally if they insist on Palmdale and the 99 corridor save money and bankroll the UP enough to upgrade to 110mph with diesels.

What I fear is that this project will be rammed thru in such a way as to leave a bitter-sweet legacy and blow the environmental cachet. Massive, ugly-ass elevateds and berms with much higher noise and vibration levels than advertised cutting a swath of blight. In other words, instant ghetto, a no mans land like a freeway. And like a freeway the public will use it but resent the impact and nuisance. "Green" will fade to grimy grafitti gray.