The proposed $43 billion California high-speed railroad may be riding on pipe dreams, according to a group created to scrutinize the project.

The California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group, which says the lack of a clear financial plan and relying on federal funding that doesn’t yet exist, has serious doubts that the project can succeed.

From the Oakland Tribune:

As California prepares to start construction on its $43 billion high-speed railroad, another group of experts has cast doubt on whether the project can succeed.

The California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group, which the Legislature and voters created to scrutinize the project, said in its first report released last week that the state’s largest project suffers from the “absence of a credible financial plan.”

The study — now the fifth of its kind issued by objective analysts this year, all stinging rebukes of the project — calls for a “thorough reassessment” of several engineering, financial and managerial issues.

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