Transportation planners in California are working on a new “2022 State Rail Plan” that they claim will provide a “long-term vision for an integrated, cohesive statewide rail system that offers efficient passenger and freight service, supports California’s economy, and helps achieve critical climate goals.” However, with California’s previously expected population growth failing to materialize, Californians’ ongoing reliance on automobiles, the COVID-19 pandemic, and many people avoiding mass transit, the state’s transportation and policy planners need to make major changes to the assumptions and projections that were part of their previous 2018 State Rail Plan. Without major alterations, state and local
