San Fransico Chronicle endorses high-speed rail bond

The editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle today endorsed Prop 1A, the statewide proposal to sell $9.95 billion in state bonds to begin a high-speed rail network across the state. An excerpt:

Opponents have seized on the understandable anxiety about a venture of this magnitude and have questioned everything from its cost projections to ridership estimates to its environmental benefits. In a meeting with our editorial board this week, they suggested the money would be better spent on relieving gridlock on regional roadways.

However, the fiscal safeguards on Prop. 1A were toughened substantially with the Legislature's recent passage of AB3034. It limited the amount of money that could be spent on administration or other items unrelated to construction. Also, construction could not begin on any segment of the project until it was certified that the funding for it had been secured. State funding would account for about half of the project; the balance would come from the federal government and private sources.

The Chronicle also published today an opinion piece by two members of the California Rail Foundation, who are against Prop 1A, which they find fiscally suspect. Excerpt:

To promote the project, the rail authority made wild claims about ridership, energy and pollution benefits. It based its claims on a prediction that 117 million passengers will use this service annually, dwarfing the 29 million using Amtrak nationwide today. Amtrak's high-speed train, Acela, carries only 3 million annually.

No European high-speed train comes close to the rail authority's claimed performance. France's best route, the TGV-Southeast had 17.5 million passengers in its 10th year of operation, and 12 million of those passengers used trains before high-speed service started. How could California trains instantly outperform European trains that link larger populations and benefit from superb transit connections?

The Los Angeles Times editorial board has also endorsed Prop 1A. I'm trying to compile a list of editorials both for and against -- if you see one, please send me an e-mail with a link.

Also, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) has an opinion piece supporting the high-speed rail bonds today over at the Huffington Post.

-- Steve Hymon