Another article from The Fresno Bee, July 11,2012, explains one of the on-going lawsuits. It states: "The Legislature cannot approve a project that violates the law passed by the voters." According to what voters approved, the proposed HSR project would cost $43 billion.
After much controversy, in 2011 the HSRA reevaluated its costs to an extremely conservative amount of $98 billion. Due to that unpopular amount, it became politically advantageous to lower the cost, so Governor Brown made a political declaration and changed the cost projection to a lower amount.
The 'blended' track has always been a contention to the proposed HSR system since the mid 90s. The original intent of the High Speed Rail Commission was to analyze magnetic levitation technology along with steel wheel on rail. Their conclusion was that the steel wheeled technology would cost $23 billion and the maglev technology system would cost $27 billion.
The Commission sunsetted in the late 90s and the Authority was formed. The political effort excluded maglev technology and began arguing about routes from LA to SF. It has since been revealed that the realistic costs of steel wheel on rail is $70 million per mile.
The 'blended' system utilizes existing electrified track with trains traveling a maximum of 70mph. Many of these existing train track rights-of-ways were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. While Governor Brown is correct to suggest California needs a statewide train system, this blended technology has nothing to do with what the voters approved with HSR.
There is merit to the lawsuits.
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