First US high-speed rail breaks ground in California

The United States on Tuesday kicked off construction of its first high-speed rail system, with federal and Californian state officials gathering at a groundbreaking ceremony to highlight the project's environmental and economic advantages.

The ceremony, at downtown Fresno in California's Central Valley, was joined by hundreds of supporters of the system, designed to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles at a speed of 350 km per hour.

Once the system is completed, traveling between the two cities will take less than three hours, cutting by half the time it currently takes by car.

California Governor Jerry Brown tagged the project's opponents as "pusillanimous" and recalled how previous projects, now iconic, also faced resistance.

"Everything big is subject to criticism and people do get pusillanimous sometimes -- that's the adjective I'm going to affix to all the critics of the project. The Golden Gate bridge was also criticized, as well as the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)," Brown said, referring to the rail system that serves thousands of San Francisco Bay Area commuters each day.

Brown dismissed critics' claims that the system costs too much. "We can afford it," he said, explaining that the state's revenues greatly surpass the cost of the project.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority said the project is expected to cost 68 billion U.S. dollars.

The high-speed train project had been delayed for more than two years due to environmental concerns and fierce opposition by some communities in the train's path.

Brown said the project is an investment in California's future, both economically and environmentally. "It will reduce traffic ... and fuel consumption," he told the ceremony.

Gina McCarthy, administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, stressed environmental benefits of the electric-powered train, as an alternative to road trip and air travel.

"Who wants to drive? ... Who wants to fly? High-speed rail is good for our health, our economy and our environment," she said.

Since its inception during Brown's first term as governor in the 1970s, the bullet train project has had a winding journey, like the one it will travel once it is completed, presumably in 2029. Tangled in controversy, initial funding for the project got a green light in 2008, after Californian voters approved a 9-billion-dollar bond measure.

Initial construction will cover a stretch of about 47 km between Madera and Fresno, both in Central Valley. Demolitions began last year to lay the tracks.

In its first phase, bullet trains will connect cities in the Central Valley to San Francisco in north California and Los Angeles in the south. Future extensions will bring the system further north to Sacramento and south to San Diego.

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