California Breaks Ground for $68 Billion Bullet Train

California Governor Jerry Brown will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the first stretch of a high-speed railway between San Francisco and Los Angeles this Tuesday, marking a symbolic victory for a project that still faces significant political opposition and funding shortfalls.

Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony in Fresno will kick off construction on the first 29-mile segment of the rail system, the Los Angeles Times reports. The project’s backers, primarily Democratic lawmakers, secured a number of legislative victories that cleared away legal challenges to land acquisitions and shored up additional funds for the $68 billion project.

Still, the project remains at least 50% short of the funds required to complete the railway by 2028, the L.A. Times reports, and continues to face staunch opposition from Republican lawmakers who criticize it as a fiscal boondoggle.

Read more at LA Times.