You can think about the future riding on Amtrak in California

Above, you can see our view for about 15 or 20 minutes as we were stopped on our way to an appointment in Fresno. We were late even though we left early, because of the "Bullet Train" dream which Jerry Brown had years ago, carried forward by Gavin Newsom. In front of us, you can see solar-powered (just kidding) construction equipment working on an overpass. To the right is an impressive hedge of roses, glorious in spring, planted along the highway by a farmer at the border of an orchard. This hedge will likely disappear in the future, along with much of the remaining agricultural land in California. Farmers already face a lot of hostility in the state, especially concerning access to water. We can rely on China for our food, right?

Although the "bullet train" (not planned to run at bullet speeds anymore) will largely parallel Amtrak routes, it will be much more destructive tor the surrounding countryside.

Dreams from the Past for Bullet Trains

The Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco was scheduled to open in 2017 to accommodate the "bullet trains", but even though they built the station the trains did not come.

The three-block-long behemoth was envisioned as the Grand Central Station of the West, a dynamic hub for buses and high-speed rail that would draw more than 100,000 visitors a day.

Come opening day, however, there will be no high-speed rail. Instead, for many years, the five-level showcase just south of Mission Street between Second and Beale streets will be little more than the world's most expensive bus station -- serving mainly the 14,000 transbay bus commuters who roll in and out daily on AC Transit.

That reality is starting to sink in and has city officials scrambling -- because without the big crowds that trains were supposed to bring in, there are serious questions about where all the money needed to keep the place secure, clean and well lit will come from.

Actually, they sort of had to build the station TWICE, because of dangerous flaws they discovered in the initial construction.

Back then, the project was a legacy dream for Jerry Brown.

The Orange County Register also ran an editorial about the entire High Speed Rail project. It includes some interesting information about the State's "cap-and-trade" auctions and the plans to use them to fund the project.

From the very beginning, the California High-Speed Rail Authority's business plans have been based more on hope and fantasy than on sound finance or economics. Proponents seem to have adopted the "in for a penny, in for a pound" strategy: Just grab as much money as you can, as quickly as you can, and start building. Once the track has been laid, there is less likelihood the public will mount strong enough opposition to stop the project, which might be seen as wasteful and cost even more money to tear up the track.

Cap-and-Trade. A solid plan for financing this project, now shrunken to a route from Bakersfield to Merced at a MUCH higher cost!

Bringing us up to date on California HSR

In addition to the information from the Jerry Brown era in the link above, Fox Business has recently published a piece that includes a timeline for the HSR project, as the Trump Administration pulls federal funding. A few of the points from this timeline:

1981: California works with Japanese partners to explore the feasibility of a high-speed rail corridor in Southern California.

2008: California voters approve Proposition 1A, allocating $9 billion to the California High-Speed Rail Authority for the rail's planning and construction.

2015: California holds an official groundbreaking ceremony in Fresno to mark the beginning of construction of the first 29-mile segment of the rail.

February 2024: The project's first construction package, which covers 22.5 miles in the Central Valley, reaches "substantial completion."

January 2025: Newsom joins local leaders to commemorate the start of the California High-Speed Rail Authority's Railhead Project, which they say is the first step to laying track.

So, nine years after groundbreaking in Fresno, they have substantially completed 22.3 miles of . . . something. TEN years after groundbreaking, they hold a ceremony which involves laying commemorative rails - NOT rails upon which trains can run.

July 2025: Duffy announces the termination of $4 billion in unspent federal funding by the Federal Railroad Administration for the project.

Sobering. Check out the details in the Fox Business piece.

Yesterday, a milestone in California's HSR project was celebrated in Newsweek! Not too far from where the photo above was taken.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has completed another key infrastructure element in the Central Valley, opening the Avenue 88 Grade Separation in Tulare County.

The new overpass spans 485 feet and clears both State Route 43 and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway line, as well as the corridor for future high-speed trains.

Why It Matters

California's high-speed rail is in an awkward position. Years of delays and an inflated budget have damaged public and political faith in the project, but the past few years have seen progress—with construction happening throughout the state and tracklaying set to start later this year. To call off the project now, as many of its detractors in the White House desire, would waste years of advancement.

The Orange County Register called it years ago (see above). Make it too expensive to end the project.

"tracklaying set to start later this year". After laying "ceremonial" track in January, in Shafter.

Back to Newsweek:

What's Next

The Authority continues to push ahead with construction across four counties—Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare—with 29 additional structures underway. Officials say up to 1,700 workers are active on job sites each day as the agency targets completing core segments through California's interior before shifting focus to the larger metropolitan connections on both ends of the system.

Just 1700 workers active each day over four counties. And this was supposed to be a big economic boon to the region! We have noticed that there is a lot of giant diesel construction equipment which stands idle much of the time in many locations connected to this HSR project. Parts of detour routes for cars have sunk into the ground or into water, and there have already been other mishaps due to poor planning even in this "easy" part of the HSR project.

There are several interesting photos and a short video at the Newsweek link, and an opportunity for you to register your opinion on how fair the piece they published is.

Weekend

Gavin Newsom is ahead in polling among California Democrats. Will he need to change his social media strategy of mocking Trump?

How can he appeal to moderates?

Scoop: Third Way is circulating a memo, shared first with @playbookdc, featuring a new black list of words Dems shouldn’t use. pic.twitter.com/VhvVHZTW9C

— Adam Wren (@adamwren) August 22, 2025

Resistance:

I am triggered by this microaggression.

This is an othering of words that creates an existential threat to our democracy.

The way to overcome systems of oppression is not to subvert verbal norms but to have radical transparency in all you say such that stakeholders can speak truth to the existential threats of the patriarchy and the environmental violence that surrounds us, and thereby show true allyship via dialoguing with the communities of LGBTQ+BIPOC people, persons who immigrated, the unhoused, birthing persons and incarcerated people, and all other victims of the privileged.

This is the only way we can shift the Overton Window.

Music

Don't worry

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Last week's thread, August 16, Thinking in new ways, or maybe letting a machine do your thinking

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

UPDATE: Do you have a different take?

If you ever worked in tech, you know that guy:

Brilliant engineer, can code anything, can do complex calculations in his head, believes any issue can be fully managed in an exclusively quantitative manner.

But . . .

Can't dress himself, has the emotional intelligence of a 12 year-old, constantly alienates co-workers, has a Dunning-Kruger approach to issues he's not trained on and generally makes the wrong choice on everything not involving silicon.

You know that guy?

In 2025, artificial intelligence IS THAT GUY.

And I'm not sure if it's even possible for it ever to not be that guy.

posted by K.T. at 11:04 AM

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