California Rail Foundation
President of the California Rail Foundation, a Sacramento-based nonprofit promoting public transportation services
PROFILE
Richard Tolmach
Guest
FROM Richard Tolmach
Which Way, L.A.?
Is High Speed Rail Too Big a Gamble for California? Based on plans laid in 1996, California voters in 2008 approved almost $10 billion in bonds to begin building a bullet-train system to connect the state's major cities. The ballot argument promised hundreds of thousands of jobs, a billion in annual profit and no need for state taxpayer subsidies. The Obama Administration has come up with $3.5 billion in federal money and construction is set to begin next year on 100 miles of track between Fresno and Bakersfield. But numerous experts and agencies are saying it's time for another look before it's too late.
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