CA Gov Brown calls for high speed rail to move forward

New cost estimates coming soon

David Crossley, Aug 19, 11.

California Governor Jerry Brown is becoming more involved in and pushing for continuation of the high speed rail plan to connect Los Angeles to San Fransisco, according to The Sacramento Bee:

Gov. Jerry Brown said this afternoon that California’s embattled high-speed rail project should move forward, despite growing criticism about the project’s management and cost.

While the nation is in a “period of massive retrenchment,” Brown told The Fresno Bee’s editorial board, “I would like to be part of the group that gets America to think big again.”

The Democratic governor has said little publicly about the project since it came under fire this year in Sacramento, with cost estimates rising and lawmakers questioning its oversight. The project, to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, was once expected to cost about $43 billion, a figure the California High-Speed Rail Authority is expected to update this fall.

Brown said he is “really getting into” the project and that “we’re working directly with the authority to get their act together.”