Zócalo's Connecting California
Building the Right Bullet Train
Faster is not necessarily better when it comes to building high-speed rail. As California gets started on a $70 billion bullet train of its own, Joe Matthews says Germany's experience shows the real measure of success is how well the rail system connects California's people and places.
By Joe Mathews • • 4m ListenIf you're heading to Germany at this time of year, your plans might include checking out a late-running Oktoberfest, spending a weekend in the Bavarian countryside and visiting some of Berlin's world-class museums. But for syndicated columnist Joe Mathews, one of the high points of his recent trip to Germany was riding the country's bullet trains.
Here in the Golden State, we've barely broken ground on our high-speed rail project -- and the pricetag keeps on climbing, with the latest estimates running as high as $71 billion.
Joe Mathews says there's a lot that we could learn from Germany's high-speed rail system.