It has been Gov. Jerry Brown's dream to have a high speed rail in California since he first took office three decades ago. With Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremonies in Fresno, the mega-project is finally on track.

The US$68 billion bullet train system will run for 520 miles through the Central Valley, linking San Francisco's downtown Transbay Terminal to the Union Station in Los Angeles. The trains will have a top speed of 200 mph and tickets will cost from US$81 to US$89 for a three-hour or less trip.

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The first passenger train will be servicing the route by 2029, if all goes well.

The project was slow to come on track even after the 2008 vote by Californians authorizing the US$9 billion rail bonds which would jumpstart the program. It has been hounded by setbacks for years, including lawsuits, politicking and future funding.

Brown called the naysayers "weak of spirit" saying "everything big runs into opposition.

"We've been talking about this 35 years, and they tell me we've still got 15 to go. Well, I'm going to try to cut a few corners here and get it going," Brown said.

Dick Ettington, a retired railroad executive from Palos Verdes Peninsula, wrote to The Los Angeles Times that the San Francisco-L.A. rail was doomed to fail because of the notable absence of freight between the two cities.

He said that "rail was only ideal for passengers when there were plenty of freight trains to help pay for it." He added that taxpayers will have to cover the cost of building the system for many years.

Brown had revised the estimated project cost to US$100 billion but settled for $68 billion after heavy opposition. In 2012, lawmakers had dropped US$5.8 billion in the hat to start construction.

Last year, a quarter of future revenues from California's carbon-reduction program had been pledged to help fund the project in future years.

According to California's High-Speed Rail Authority, the $68 billion is still much cheaper than constructing countless miles of highways and airport runways to accommodate an estimated 46 million Californians by the year 2035.

TagsJerry Brown, california, fresno, dick ettington, high-speed rail, bullet train