CALIFORNIANS ARE NOT SERIOUS ABOUT THEIR HIGH SPEED TRAINS.

Trains has the sad news.  "Listing of the Southern California and Central Coast mountain [lion] and monarch butterfly as candidates for endangered species lists have added to the complications faced by the California High-Speed Rail Authority in planning the Bakersfield-Palmdale section of its route."  That's only the most difficult section of the line to build, getting from the valley north of Bakersfield through the mountains to the Los Angeles basin at Palmdale.  There might be some fault lines to take into account as well.