High-speed rail consultant costs near $600 million even before construction starts

◼ The latest accounting by the California High-Speed Rail Authority to state lawmakers indicates that the agency has spent almost $600 million on engineering and environmental consultants -- all without turning a shovelful of dirt on construction. - Fresno Bee

To date, the only section for which the rail authority and the Federal Railroad Administration have certified environmental review is the Merced-Fresno section -- and even that omits the area around Chowchilla, in Madera County, as consultants evaluate options for a junction where the San Jose-Merced rail line would join with the Merced-Fresno line.

The rail authority initially anticipated that all of those environmental certifications for sections between Merced and Los Angeles would be done by early 2014. The project report now indicates that some of those environmental reports won't be done until late 2015 -- more than two years behind schedule.