California high-speed rail's long ride to nowhere

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson want a liberalism that builds things

Japan’s bullet train in 2005.

At 6 am on October 1, 1964, two sleek blue-and-white trains left Tokyo and Osaka. Traveling in opposite directions at a top speed of 130 miles an hour, each train arrived in the other city in 4 hours, cutting 2 hours and 40 minutes off the typical trip, according to The Guardian.

Japan was hosting the Olympics that month, and its pioneering high-speed rail venture was a point of pride for a nation showing off its progress in rebuilding after defeat in World War II. Today the “Shinkhansen” trains are even faster, at up to 200 mph, making possible a two-and-a-half hour trip from city to city.

Japan’s achievement caught the fancy of rail enthusiasts and public officials around the world. Among them was California Gov. Jerry Brown. In 1982, he signed what the Los Angeles Times called a “speedily written” bill to build a $2 billion bullet train between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Nothing got built, and it wasn’t until 1996 that the state even established a Californ…