2014 California Governor's race: on Technology

Neel Kashkari: Day one, high-speed rail train is dead

Kashkari replied instantly, eager to highlight his steadfast opposition to California's high-speed rail project in front of a conservative audience: "Absolutely. Day one, that train is dead."

One big question now is whether, despite spending billions already, the project will ever be completed. Another is whether high-speed rail is the issue that can rejuvenate California's moribund Republican Party. For his part, Brown continues to embrace the undertaking, which has faced a series of legal, financial, and practical hurdles that have driven up costs and delayed construction for years. Even news that some members of his own party have abandoned the project hasn't dimmed Brown's unyielding optimism.

Jerry Brown: 32-year quest to build nation's first high-speed rail line

But there is one project Brown has decided not to save for the future: building the nation's first high-speed rail line, one of the largest infrastructure projects in U.S. history, with an estimated price tag of $68 billion--if not higher. Shovels are poised to hit the ground this year on the first section of track, the latest advance in Brown's 32-year quest (he signed the first bill authorizing a study of high-speed rail in 1982) to erect something he believes befits the image of California as a "land of dreams."

"We aren't all Twitter-holics that have to have instant gratification after 140 characters," Brown said. "We can take a few years and build for the future, and that's my sense here, that I'm coming back to be governor after all these years. It's been on my list for a long time."

Jerry Brown: Pay for high-speed rail project with cap-and-trade revenue

Though the state has acquired $3.4 billion in federal funding to start construction of the rail project in the Central Valley, legal challenges have left state bond funding in question. Brown has made high-speed rail a priority, and he suggested two years ago that cap-and-trade revenue, which is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, would be a future source of funding for the project.

But the use of cap-and-trade money for high-speed rail could be problematic. While the rail project could eventually help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, benefits would not be seen until after 2020, the year by which California is seeking to meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals.