>>1840574Caltrans demoed Talgo trainsets but Governor Wilson didn't want to pay for it. Davis's subsequent lawn dart and BART making inroads on the peninsula made such a cheap project untenable. Thus, people decided to just go for broke with a formal state prop. The prop passed and here we are 14 years later.
The actual decision to use an inland route vs a coastal route was made around 2009, and largely based on the fact that coastal communities are full of money and environmental litigation. Fresno and Bakersfield aren't. Even then there was still ~5 years of environmental delays, but the courts sided with the state whereas that would not necessarily have been the case with a coastal route. Also, no need to tunnel under Vandenberg which Trump could have messed with.
