California high-speed rail plan gets better, but is still flawed and too expensive

Gov. Gavin Newsom has correctly called for rightsizing California’s high-speed rail project. While the state’s latest rail plan offers a step in that direction and is more realistic than previous updates, it is still flawed and requires further improvement.
By indefinitely postponing the proposed expansions to the Bay Area and Los Angeles, the revised plan lowers projected capital costs from $77 billion to $20.4 billion. However, the slimmed-down project promises to create a costly,