Source:Agencies Published: 2013-11-28 16:13:01
A judge put the brakes on California's plan to issue more than $8 billion in bonds to help build an 800-mile high-speed train system and ordered the rail authority to rewrite funding plans for the huge project.
AP said that Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny rejected a request from the California High-Speed Rail Authority to sell $8 billion of the $10 billion in bonds approved by voters in 2008, saying there was no evidence it was "necessary and desirable" to start selling the bonds when a committee of state officials met last March.
In a separate decision, Kenny ordered the rail authority to rescind its funding plan but did not put a halt to the project, which has the political backing of Governor Jerry Brown, said Reuters.
Dan Richard, chairman of the High-Speed Rail Authority's board of directors, stressed that the judge declined to fully halt the project as opponents had requested, said the San Jose Mercury News.
California's plan calls for bullet trains that reach up to 200 mph connecting major cities throughout the state, San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The authority's CEO, Jeff Morales, disagreed with claims by the opponents that the judge's rulings would send planners back to the drawing board, AP reported.
Doubts have also been raised over whether trains will be able to run from Los Angeles to San Francisco in under three hours by 2029 as advertised, said Reuters.
Stuart Flashman, the lawyer for Kings County and opponents there of the high-speed rail project, said Kenny's ruling should serve as a wake-up call for the California High-Speed Rail Authority to reconsider how it can meet requirements in Proposition 1A.
"What they need to do is rethink the project and maybe this will be the impetus," said Flashman as Reuters reported.