The outsourcing “proved to be a foundational error in the project’s execution—a miscalculation that has resulted in the California High-Speed Rail Authority being overly reliant on a network of high-cost consultants who have consistently underestimated the difficulty of the task,” reported Ralph Vartabedian in the Los Angeles Times.34 California is one of the richest polities in the world. It was building one of the most ambitious rail projects in the world. But it did not hire the best rail designers and engineers to provide in-house expertise and manage the project. California was financing
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