The news that there will be cutbacks in High Speed Rail funding in the coming years by the Federal Government is unwelcome but not unexpected by RailPAC. RailPAC has long been concerned that much of the planning for the California High Speed Rail Project has until recently been unrealistic about available funding. In particular the fixation that initial service between Los Angeles and San Francisco run by express trains be no more than 2 hours and 35 minutes has resulted in millions of dollars added to individual projects to save seconds to the running time. This goal has often resulted in upsetting land owners with possible eminent domain of their property and disruption for many communities. Given that the average speed of most passenger trains in this country is around 40 miles per hour, seeing service raised up to 100 miles per hour will by itself be a major improvement. Rising average speeds up to 150 miles per hour and more may have to wait… April 18, 2011 eNewsletter