Proposition 1a: High Speed Rail, On or Off?

The Department of Transportation says Americans are driving less and riding more on public transit; $4 a gallon gasoline has led Congress to finally authorize $14 billion for Amtrak, intercity passenger trains and high-speed rail. If the Senate and President Bush go along, that could mean money for California, if voters pass a November bond issue that would provide $10 billion to begin building a bullet train from Orange County to Sacramento. The first leg would be from Anaheim to the Bay Area, and some of the proposed route would share right of way with the Union Pacific. Last week we heard that the railroad is making last-minute objections, raising safety concerns in case the new technology collides with the old one.