California High-Speed Rail at a Tipping Point

Carolyn Lochhead of the San Francisco Chronicle sums up the current situation, with the Federal government at loggerheads over funding for high-speed rail and Californians taking sides:

"Supporters insist that California must build the project. The state is expected to add as many as 11 million more residents by 2025, reaching a population of 48 million. The alternatives to high-speed rail - more and expanded freeways, bigger airports and expansions of urban mass transit - will be just as costly, they argue."

Critics say that the project is a boondoggle, and that underestimated costs will mean the billions invested in the project will go to waste when the money isn't there to complete it.

For daily coverage of high-speed rail in the United States and beyond, visit The Railist.