Skip to main content

California's high-speed-rail project goes ahead

The California Supreme Court decided last week not to consider an appeal of a case brought by opponents of the state’s $68 billion bullet train project, paving the way for the project to go ahead. Opponents had questioned whether the California High-Speed Rail Authority was complying with the terms of the ballot measure that funded the project. The appellate court agreed there are legitimate legal concerns about whether the “high-speed rail project the California High-Speed Rail Authority seeks to bui
October 20, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The California Supreme Court decided last week not to consider an appeal of a case brought by opponents of the state’s $68 billion bullet train project, paving the way for the project to go ahead.

Opponents had questioned whether the California High-Speed Rail Authority was complying with the terms of the ballot measure that funded the project.

The appellate court agreed there are legitimate legal concerns about whether the “high-speed rail project the California High-Speed Rail Authority seeks to build is the project approved by the voters” but said the arguments were brought too soon.

Dan Richard, chairman of the board that oversees the high-speed rail project, said in a written statement that the state will move aggressively to build the system.

Demolition work and construction testing has already begun around Fresno, one of the hubs on the first 28-mile stretch in the Central Valley.

The decision concerns only one portion of the plaintiffs’ lawsuit. In a second phase still before the Sacramento County judge, attorneys will argue that compromises made to cut the price mean the bullet train won’t be able to travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two hours and 40 minutes as promised in the ballot measure.

Related Content

  • Plans for eVTOL service around California's Bay Area
    July 3, 2024
    Archer plans air mobility network to cut journey times in environs of San Francisco
  • Better liveability through more micromobility
    November 1, 2022
    Shared and micromobility offer new options, weaning urbanites off their cars, stitching existing mass transit combinations together. Andrew Stone looks at a report on transforming our cities
  • Open data gives new lease of life to public travel information screens
    March 4, 2014
    David Crawford finds resurgent interest in travel information screens for buildings. With city governments worldwide increasingly opening up and sharing their public transport data for general use, attention is focusing on the potential financial benefits – to transit operators and businesses more widely. Professor Stephen Goldsmith, who directs the US’ Harvard University’s Data-Smart City Solutions Project says: “Amid nationwide public-sector budget cuts, open data is providing a road map for improving tra
  • Øresund bridges the front line for border crossing traffic
    September 15, 2016
    Timothy Compston considers the challenges faced by the operators of the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden, the largest structure of its kind across Europe. In light of the concerns about the ongoing security threat and the unprecedented flow of migrants, many of the countries that make up the Schengen Area in Europe have re-introduced border controls. For its part, Sweden has rolled out ID checks for train, bus and ferry passengers from Denmark placing the landmark Øresund Bridge very much on the fr