Admit it. When the federal government talks of investing huge sums of money into high-speed rail you picture aerodynamic bullet trains humming along at 220 miles per hour.
So when the government proclaims that it has invested $12 billion into "high-speed rail" you presume that those funds will be used to fund actual high-speed rail projects. Not so says CNN's Drew Griffin who has released another expose on where these funds are actually going.
To sum up Drew's report, the $12 billion dollars is being used to make conventional freight trains a wee bit faster. In essence, while the public was sold on bullet trains, the monies are really just being used to improve conventional rail lines.
The cornerstone of Drew's report is the fact that $800 million in taxpayer "high-speed rail" funds were used to improve conventional rail track between Seattle and Portland. The big pay-off? Shaving 10 minutes off the travel time.
The CNN video report can be seen here.
