Not much has been said lately about high-speed rail, but it was quite an ambitious part of the 2009 stimulus package. States like Ohio, Florida, and Wisconsin wisely turned down federal money to build high-speed rail lines, knowing they couldn’t afford the project in the long run, even subsidized by the federal government.

California, of course, went ahead with plans for a high-speed rail line, and as The City Journal reported this week, California’s bullet train “will cost far more than projected, won’t thin out today’s jammed highways, and will never run on time.”

The City Journal reports that California “has already spent more than $3 billion on a project with an estimated cost that has bounced around from the original $33 billion to $43 billion, then up to as much as $117 billion, before settling, at least for now, at about $68 billion.”

It looks like California's bullet train won't be as fast or as cheap as promised. https://t.co/rEG1SnY5AF — City Journal (@CityJournal) December 9, 2017

It’s a shocker, right?

"Unexpectedly" — Just Tom (@thomasa56) December 9, 2017

What a shocker! — PHYLLIS FINNEGAN (@dundeeborn69) December 9, 2017

What?! You mean a government project is going to be more expensive and low functioning as promised?! No way! — Adam Vander (@adamvander007) December 9, 2017

Well I, for one, am shocked, just shocked. — Tim Stelzer (@RoboMerican) December 9, 2017

In other news, the sky is blue and water is wet. — Local National (@mikey_likesit76) December 9, 2017

Well, Knock me over with a feather. I did not see that coming…. — Mike Downing (@mikesdowning) December 9, 2017

Two things are GUARANTEED when they scratch out the projections for these type of projects: 1. They will overestimate ridership. 2. They will underestimate the cost. Every single time. — Robert Morro (@bmorro44) December 9, 2017

I know, I know. This is a stunning, out-of-the-blue surprise, particularly for people who actually understand large complex projects and the track record (SWIDT?) of mass transit in the United States. Who could have predicted this? Besides everyone, I mean? @CityJournal — Bruce F. Webster (@bfwebster) December 9, 2017

They didn’t consider floodplains in their initial environmental analysis, and they don’t own any of the land it would be constructed on. Cluster from the start. — The Right Honourable (@HonourableRight) December 9, 2017

Won’t be as fast, will cost more- next how much will they have to subsidize each trip? If it actually gets completed — frank james zidonis (@frankzidonis) December 9, 2017

It's already obsolete. This is why it needs to get done and get done fast or else it's just going to be obsolete by the time it's completed. We all knew this was a train to nowhere scam by Moonbeam Brown — DreadedWhiteMale (@JaeMillz93910) December 9, 2017

Okay, call out: who thought it would be anything other than a colossal suck-hole of money, unwanted, unneeded, and most likely never to be completed? <<crickets>> Poor CA taxpayers, but then you get the government you vote for. — Mary Luigi (@MaryLuigi1919) December 9, 2017

By the time it's built it will be like the old Disneyland People Mover running between Fresno and Bakersfield. — Little Larry Sellers (@SpawnOfDanelaw) December 9, 2017

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Related:

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