Mr Diridon, chairman emeritus of the California High Speed Rail Authority, was addressing like-minded folk at the annual meeting of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association.

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Remarkably, this estimate is 40 to 60% higher than the 3.1 million ton reduction the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) originally claimed in 2008 for the entire plan, including extensions to Sacramento and San Diego.

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The project's godfather is Democratic Congressman Jim Costa, who as a state senator in the 1990s wrote legislation creating California's High-Speed Rail Authority and helped plan the 500-mile route between San Francisco and Anaheim.

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