The Los Angeles Times reports Art Leahy, chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is unhappy with the some of the proposed paths in the high-speed rail plan for the proposed bullet-train, and is stressing the need to share share existing track space, rather than build new lines. Additionally, there's worry about how often the trains will run. Via the LA Times:
"We are big-time unhappy with the conduct of the high-speed authority," Leahy told officials who oversee the existing Los Angeles-to-San Diego train corridor.
"I really can't understand their approach," he said. "In many cases they've ridden roughshod over the host of cities in Orange County and in Los Angeles. They have ignored input and there are assumptions that are just astonishing."
Among other things, Leahy questioned designing the system to run trains every five minutes. "That's extraordinary," he said. And widening the corridor to add dedicated bullet train tracks could require taking out hundreds of homes in Anaheim alone, he noted. "I mean, just crazy stuff," he said, according to a recording of the session obtained by The Times.
If the planning does not become more rational, Leahy warned, "I don't think there is going to be a project."
· Bullet train plan under fire from local officials [LAT]
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