Panel Slams Fast-Rail Plan

A peer review panel has recommended California hold off on borrowing billions of dollars for its estimated $98 billion high-speed passenger rail project.

The panel of experts created by state law to oversee public interest in the high-speed rail project, the California High Speed Rail Peer Review Group, called the project in its current form an “immense financial risk.”

Gov. Jerry Brown has said he will ask the state Legislature to issue the first piece of the $9 billion of voter-approved general obligation bonds to fund the first segment of the network.

But the project has run into rising opposition since it released a draft business plan late last year that saw costs potentially more than double.

According to the draft business plan, the California High-Speed Rail Authority estimates capital costs could reach $98.5 billion in year-of-expenditure dollars over 30 years to build 500 miles of high-speed passenger train lines between San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 2010 the authority said it expected a high-end cost of $45 billion.

In a December report, the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office said that funding for the first stage of the project is highly uncertain.

State lawmakers created the authority in 1996 to plan a high-speed passenger train system to link the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay regions.

In 2008, voters approved a $9.95 billion general obligation bond measure to seed construction.

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Transportation industry
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