Gavin Newsom abandons SF-to-LA high-speed rail

>"Merced, Fresno, Bakersfield and communities in between are more dynamic than people realize. The valley may be known around the world for agriculture but there's another story ready to be told."

It's been seemingly eons since I last drove through Bakersfield, Fresno, and Merced, but it seems that if SF - LA can't make economic sense, not sure how connecting a bunch of agro cities would make more sense.

Yosemite, maybe?

What was the big issue here? It seems extremely expensive but I'm not sure how connecting two big and wealthy cities by high speed rail can be an issue or unprofitable.

Good on Newsom for spending some political capital this. It was a bad idea, badly executed; the state will be better off for having cancelled it.

He's not cancelling it, he's calling for a smaller project on the partially built track from Merced to Bakersfield (there's a fair bit in Fresno County).

As someone who drives greater LA to Sacramento about once a month, based on the traffic levels on the 99, no one is clamouring for this. The fact he didn't want to give the $3b+ back to the Feds is just cutting off his nose to spite his face.