This is one of those items where a newspaper headline and subheading tell it all and require no comment. From today’s L.A. Times:
“Bullet Train Won’t Meet Target Travel Times, Panel Says
“Regular trips are likely to take longer than the anticipated two hours and 40 minutes.”
But in case you are a non-California flatlander, here is an explanation:
“The faster trips were held out to voters in 2008 when they approved $9 billion in borrowing to help pay for the project. Since then, a series of political compromises and planning changes designed to keep the $68-billion line moving ahead have created slower track zones in urban areas.” Ralph Vartabedian, Bullet Train Won’t Meet Target Travel Time, Panel Says, L.A. Times, March 28, 2014, at p. AA1.