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Opinion: May 16 Buzz: California’s bullet train causes grief

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Most viewed, commented and shared: California’s high-speed train wreck

The editorial board takes on the state’s plan to build a bullet train, which it says ‘has become a monument to the ways poor planning, mismanagement and political interference can screw up major public works.’

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[President] Obama’s inspiring vision of a nation crisscrossed by bullet trains, providing cleaner, safer and cheaper competition to airlines and reducing reliance on gas-guzzling automobiles, is in serious jeopardy as a new Republican majority in the House looks to slash his funding plans. In this environment, California is a test case for whether high-speed trains can succeed in the U.S. — and so far, the state is failing the test.

Here’s what a few of our readers are saying about California’s bullet train, with spelling corrected for clarity:

If it was worth doing, a private corporation would have built it by now. Rail is ridiculously inefficient and Amtrak is all the proof we need. -- The Libertarian Terrorists are now targeting trains, so let’s build more of them! Ask the Brits who just suffered through one of the worst train shut-downs in their history, and the lackadaisical and rude treatment by unionized rain workers. Why do liberals love these abusive, dysfunctional monopolies? It’s all about power, baby. --Ms.Skeptic Nobody is going to ride the train more than a few times...3 hours from ‘Frisco to LA...big deal, you can drive it in 5 or 6 hours and have a car, which you will need, when you get there...also you can take passengers with you for free, which you can’t do on the train...with a car you can come and go as you please...why do you think people drive cars anyway?...I wouldn’t take this train even if it was free!!...put the money into more and better highways!! --glenngrabcello

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