Well, it wasn't hard to see this coming. A transportation subcommittee of the House of Representatives appropriations panel slashed all high-speed rail funding for 2012, reports the Los Angeles Times (the full committee, Republican-majority House, and Senate must also take up the issue). A North Carolina Democrat tried to preserve $1 billion for bullet trains but the proposal was voted down. This spells trouble for the SF-Anaheim project, currently budgeted at $43 billion, but is assumed by many to cost more. As far as spending bond money authorized by California voters in 2008, Governor Brown "has signaled that he wants a comprehensive review of the entire project before he agrees to issue" bonds for the project. Construction in the Central Valley is tentatively scheduled to begin next year. [LA Times]
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