Jan. 1, 2026 7 AM PT
To the editor: The statement by a California High-Speed Rail Authority spokesperson in this article really caught my attention (“California drops lawsuit seeking to reinstate federal funding for the state’s bullet train,” Dec. 28). “Moving forward without the Trump administration’s involvement allows the Authority to pursue proven global best practices used successfully by modern high-speed rail systems around the world,” it read.
Really? The project is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. That’s the result of erratic support from the Trump administration?
The second part of that authority’s statement is a doozy. Only now will it be possible to “pursue proven global best practices”? Why couldn’t those practices be pursued in past years?
The project was authorized in 2008. I had high hopes back then. Yet here we are 17 years on with almost nothing to show for whatever effort has been expended in all that time. I have to wonder how several European countries (not to mention Japan) have successfully built high-speed rail lines. What did they do right that we can’t replicate?
Our bullet train project reminds me of the Gravina Island Bridge in Alaska — a.k.a. the “Bridge to Nowhere.”
Martin Parker, Thousand Oaks