If this project were being driven by good design and not politics, here is what we might have ended up with (the dark white line, not the politically designed red line: http://calrailnews.com/crn0811...
This would have saved a bundle of money and be much more likely to compete with the airlines, too. It would save much more than the $3.6B we stand to send back to the feds if we don't meet the rushed ARRA funds deadline to start something by 2012, never mind that the something is garbage and doesn't even include electrification, trains or possibly even tracks depending on which parts of the HSRA's paperwork you read.
