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Related: About this forumTrump administration deals a big setback to Caltrain (Trump blue state assault vs California)
Trump administration deals a big setback to CaltrainBy Matier & Ross, San Francisco Chronicle Updated 9:33 pm, Friday, February 17, 2017
In the first big hit to the Bay Area from the Trump administration, newly minted Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has put the brakes on $647 million for Caltrain to go electric and in the process pretty much killed hopes for high-speed rail coming to San Francisco anytime soon.
It puts the (electrification) project in serious jeopardy, Caltrain spokesman Seamus Murphy said Friday.
Caltrain carries about 60,000 riders a day between the South Bay and San Francisco, but its diesel-driven trains are both costly to operate and slow. Officials see electrification as a way both to increase ridership and save money on operating costs.
Going electric would also allow the Peninsula line to be the final link in the high-speed rail system that Gov. Jerry Brown wants to stretch from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The Obama administration embraced the idea, but California Republicans have long portrayed it as a boondoggle and sought to kill it.
In a Jan. 24 letter to Chao, all 14 Republicans in the states congressional delegation called for the Caltrain money to be put on hold until a full audit is done on high-speed rail. On Friday, Chao obliged the Federal Transit Administration, which she oversees, said a decision on the $647 million federal grant needed to keep the project going would be delayed.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Trump-administration-deals-a-big-setback-to-10941880.php
ghostsinthemachine
(3,569 posts)Gimme some truth. All I want is some truth.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)Resist the fascists California!
ghostsinthemachine
(3,569 posts)A lot of people. Been a target since day one. Nobody gets it, the expense is staggering, the building schedule, logistics etc all with different problems.
CA, we will live through Trump. Might be good. I worry about Sessions and legal lot more myself, that's a today problem.
CurtEastPoint
(18,639 posts)worstexever
(265 posts)Trump has effectively co-opted Mitch McConnell. I'm sure this is by design.
CurtEastPoint
(18,639 posts)petronius
(26,602 posts)If I'm understanding correctly though, the HSR needs the electrification to happen, but the Caltrain electrification is really a separate project entirely: a beneficial infrastructure improvement that is well-worth doing regardless of what happens with HSR. Right?
orwell
(7,771 posts)...oh I get it. Why would we need any improvement for rail transport in one of the most economically dynamic corridors in the world.
Nevermind...