Argumentative Essay: The California High Speed Railroad

The California High Speed Railroad is a railroad managed by the HRSA (The California High Speed Railroad Authority.) Its purpose is to connect the mega regions of California. Sounds like a good plan? Well, there are some negative reasons why this railroad should not be built. The railroad should not be built for the following reasons: There is Still No Legitimate Funding Plan; the Costs Look Like nothing what the Voters Approved, and Shrinking Ridership Numbers. The California High Speed Railroad should not be built because there is still no legitimate funding plan. The HRSA says it will need $53 - $62 billion to build Phase 1 of the railroad, which would run from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The state currently has the $9.95 billion from tax-payers, plus an additional $3.5 billion in federal grants. But, where is the remaining $40- 50 billion going to come from? In April, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote, “We find that HSRA has not provided sufficient detail and justification to the Legislature regarding its plan to build a high–speed train system. Specifically, funding for the project remains highly speculative and important …show more content…
The text of Proposition 1A asked California voters to approve $9.95 billion for the project. But, then it was announced that in 2008, 2008 said: “The total cost to develop and construct the entire high-speed train system would be about $45 billion.” That’s a whole 35.5 billion difference! It was said that they “miscalculated” and “lost” the money. Now the High-Speed Rail Authority says that it will take $68.4 billion to construct the railroad. Last year, the HSRA actually estimated the costs would be over $98 billion, but they were not prepared to ask for an additional $30 billion. Instead they are going to replace a portion of the tracks with old tracks, instead of high- speed new ones. What’s the point of the railroad