Major section of California’s $231B High Speed Rail could shrink to tiny track ending at remote orchard

Source: New York Post

California’s $231 billion high-speed rail dream could hit a literal dead end at a remote Central Valley orchard. The state’s long-troubled bullet train could be forced to dramatically shrink its first operating segment, potentially leaving both Merced and Bakersfield off the initial route as the project barrels toward a massive cash crunch. Instead, California may have to pour its remaining money into completing a much smaller stretch of track between Madera and Poplar Avenue in rural Kern County, an isolated endpoint surrounded largely by farmland and orchards, project Inspector General Benjamin Belnap told KCRA’s “California Politics 360.