NEW YORK -- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced on Tuesday that California had secured $928.6 million in funds for the state's high-speed rail program. The money isn't new, but the timing of LaHood's announcement was significant.
On Nov. 15, congressional Republicans succeeded in stripping out new money for high-speed rail in the fiscal year 2012 transportation budget. Several members of California's Republican congressional delegation are also on the hunt to "claw back" $3.3 billion in grants the state has already won for its high-speed rail system, citing cost increases.
So the feds have stepped up to show they're still committed to the country's only true high-speed rail system. Tuesday's Department of Transportation announcement means that the federal government is now legally obligated to pay nearly $1 billion in grants it previously awarded to California for high-speed rail.
"I think you can read this action as we're not deterred in any way that there are some in Congress who don't want to invest in high speed rail, or frankly, other infrastructure projects," said DOT Under Secretary Roy Kienitz. "The struggle is on, I guess."
To build its system, California will face opposition not just from Congress but also the challenging realities of building a bullet train. On Nov. 1, the California High-Speed Rail Authority released a long-awaited business report that sent the cost of high-speed rail up from $43 billion to $65.4 billion in 2010 dollars.
Critics had long charged that the California High-Speed Rail Authority was relying on unrealistically low cost estimates for its hugely ambitious program. In response, Gov. Jerry Brown appointed two new members to the Authority's board, which is charged with overseeing the system's business plan.
"I think the business plan that just came out is a great improvement," Kienitz said. "It's much more detailed, it's much more realistic, and its cost figures are right in line with what it's cost to build real high speed rail that's actually operating around the world."
Elizabeth Alexis, a Palo Alto resident who has turned into a one-woman watchdog for the high-speed rail program as part of Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design, said the new board members seemed to bring more seriousness to the system.
"I do believe they were instrumental in getting a real price-tag on the project," she said. Alexis' projections for the systems real costs were in line with the Authority's new business plan.
Still, she argues that there are many more potential road-bumps along the way for high-speed rail. The entire decision-making process, she said, has been dominated by "boosters," looking to build the system at any cost, and opponents, like those congressional Republicans, who are motivated by ideological and political considerations to stop high-speed rail.
The Authority estimated in its business plan that it would receive billions of new federal grants over the next three years, but Alexis cautioned that it still relies on $55 billion from the feds over the life of the project to cover the new, higher price-tag.
"It's conservative because we haven't assumed federal funding in the next few years," she said, "but we're assuming three times as much overall."