First leg of Calif. high-speed rail approved
| Sacramento
The initial segment of聽's ambitious $68 billion high speed rail project won the approval of the聽聽on Wednesday, clearing the way for construction to begin in 2013.
Federal authorities approved a 65-mile section of track through the state's central agricultural heartland, from聽听迟辞听, after environmental and engineering reviews were completed.
's bullet train network, expected to take decades to complete, would eventually connect聽听补苍诲 San Francisco to Los Angeles, with stops along the 800-mile system.
"We are now poised to move forward and break ground next year,"聽, CEO of the聽High-Speed Rail Authority, said in a statement, adding that the project would invest billions of dollars in local and regional rail systems.
's Democratic Governor聽聽signed an initial funding bill for the train project in July that cleared the way for construction of 130 miles of track.
Brown says a bullet train network will boost job creation and provide an alternative to car and plane travel in the country's most populous state.
Critics, however, say聽聽can ill afford the $68 billion project that farmers' unions regard as an "imminent threat" to some of the most agriculturally productive land in the聽.
Critics worry that funding for the project will eventually run dry before the rail network can be completed, leaving聽聽with a "train to nowhere" in its agrarian midsection.
Cost estimates for the project, the most ambitious public works endeavor to date in聽, have ballooned to $68 billion from $45 billion previously.
聽has so far only approved partial state and federal financing for the project, including the issuance of $2.6 billion in state bonds, which would in turn unlock $3.2 billion in federal funds for construction of the tracks.
罢丑别听, an independent budget watchdog agency, said the source of funding for the project beyond the initial round was "highly uncertain." (Reporting by Mary Slosson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Jackie Frank)
