Comment by ianburrell
3 days ago
The initial segment in Central Valley has current date of 2032. It depends on if federal government restores funding or if California has to fund itself.
Phase 1 from SF to LA is estimated for 2035-2040. They might do end-to-end service before that with existing tracks and slower speeds, especially from Palmdale to LA. The SF and LA segments require tunneling to get over the mountains.
What's notable about the initial segment is that it parallels (and thus duplicates) an existing Amtrak service between Bakersfield and Merced. So the initial operating segment gives us zero new destinations by rail.
But, hey, you'll be able to go really fast between California's 6th and 80th largest cities!