The Department of Transportation has dissolved all its privately funded road projects in the state. The DOT says its part of a plan to revamp a program meant to lure private money to transportation projects. Join discussion...

On the application deadline for federal stimulus funding, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined federal, state and local officials to outline California's bid for more than $4.7 billion in federal stimulus funding for engineering, design and construction of the state's high-speed train system – nearly a $10 billion investment when state, local and private matching funds are added. Join discussion...

The practice of "build, operate and transfer," otherwise known as "BOT," is a widely accepted procedure to allow private enterprises to carry out all or part of state-planned public works that permits private investment building and long-term operation of transportation or other infrastructure projects before an eventual transfer to public ownership. Seen in the 1990s as an ideal means to promote domestic and foreign private investment in costly transportation projects, almost all BOT projects carried out in Taiwan have experienced grave fiscal and management projects. Join discussion...

The Kaohsiung Metro, which opened service on March 9 last year, may soon follow in the footsteps of the Taiwan High Speed Railroad's bullet train system. Both are BOT (build-operate-transfer) projects, albeit Kaohsiung Metro is much smaller in scale. Join discussion...

The California High-Speed Rail Authority projects that it will need about 33 billion in 2008 dollars to complete its initial San Francisco-Anaheim link, a reasonable estimate considering the cost of peer systems. In addition to the $9 billion in state funds devoted to the project by last November’s referendum, the Authority is banking on $2-3 billion in local money and $12-16 billion in federal contributions. Because this aid won’t be enough to cover the full costs of the line, the state will also demand $6.5-7.5 billion in help from public/private partnerships. In other words, the Authority is hoping it can raise 20% of construction costs with the help of corporate interests that would be able to benefit from some of the line’s operating profit. Join discussion...

The government will not take over the financially troubled high-speed rail system, Transportation Minister Mao Chi-kuo said Monday. The statement came amid growing rumors that High-Speed Rail Corporation Chairwoman Nita Ing would announce her resignation at a board meeting scheduled for Tuesday and be replaced by chief executive officer Ou Chin-der, a confidant of President Ma Ying-jeou. The meeting was supposed to select a date in late September or early October for an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting. Join discussion...

US´s Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood met with a variety of state governors and officials last week to discuss the $8 billion high-speed rail element of the recovery bill. States have yet to formally submit their applications for the funds, but I want to present you the main information that was presented in that meeting. Join discussion...

While the HSR Authority hopes to get at least half of the $8 billion ARRA funding, it has yet to market any of the $10 billion in bonds passed by the voters because of its budget problems. Criticism abounds. "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act approved by Congress in February contains $8 billion to be doled out to states for development of high-speed rail service and passenger rail service among cities. Join discussion...

The state Treasurer’s Office has issued $29.1 million in short-term loans to the California High-Speed Rail Authority to meet the remainder of the authority’s 2008-09 fiscal year funding authorization. Join discussion...

The Senate’s revised stimulus bill provides $2 billion in funding for a high-speed rail corridor, as well as another $1.1 billion to upgrade existing trains. Altogether, big-ticket rail investment only makes up about 0.3% of the bill’s total outlay. Join discussion...