High-speed rail

A newly elected Gov. Gavin Newsom was skeptical about completing California's bullet train project, but he's morphed into a booster. However, his reservations about the project remain valid.

Between 1949 and 2017, the federal government invested only $10 billion in high-speed rail with $4 billion of that dedicated to the California project, compared to investments of $777 billion in aviation and over $2 trillion in highways. The federal government can’t expect transformative results with piecemeal funding. We must go big.

California's bullet train project is still lacking enough money to complete its initial segment in the San Joaquin Valley, much less financing for a statewide system.

Delays and rising costs have given high-speed rail critics an opening, but proponents say that abandoning this crucial project now would be a mistake.

California may soon face a sunk cost argument for the Central Valley portion of the bullet train project. With costs soaring and the merits of high-speed rail heavily debated, some economics experts argue that state officials should invest those resources elsewhere.