This seems to me to be more a debate over
where the first phase of the HSR project should be built, not that the project shouldn't
be built. The
L.A. Times article seems to indicate that this isn't about taking funding away from HSR to give to commuter rail in the Bay Area and Los Angeles basin, in a "robbing Peter to pay Paul" manner, but to "divert about $5 billion to
future bullet train routes in Southern California and Bay Area that now carry commuter rail systems." (Emphasis added by me).
IMHO, there are valid arguments on both sides. Getting something built in the cheapest/easiest region to build makes sense, especially when there was no prospect of any federal investment and indeed the federal government was viscerally opposed to it. Building something of broader use (HSR
and commuter rail) in the most populous regions, even if it's more expensive, also makes sense, especially now when federal prospects are improved.
If it were me, I'd "bite the bullet" (pun intended) of probably the most expensive phase and build the tunnel under the Tehachapis first so that the San Joaquins can go through it from the Bay Area and Sacramento into Los Angeles Union Station while the later stages of the project are built. But I'm neither a civil engineer nor a California legislator nor even a California voter.
This debate is all for the good so long as the supporters of improved passenger rail in its various forms are vigilant to avoid being "used" by a temporary alliance with opponents of improved passenger rail in all its forms. They will use commuter rail as an excuse to kill HSR, then work to kill the commuter rail funding later so that nothing gets done.
As to this being a "vanity project,"
(1) I really don't think connecting the two principal population centers of California -- the Bay area, Silicon Valley, and Sacramento on one hand, the sprawling basin centered around Los Angeles on the other -- hundreds of miles apart faster than driving and in a less environmentally-unfriendly way than flying is a vanity project.
(2) Various public works projects now heavily used and highly valued were considered boondoggles by some until the day they opened. Looking just at transportation in California, the
Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Area Rapid Transit, and
L.A. Metro subway all took their turns in that barrel. This
video -- admittedly a promotion for the California HSR project -- makes that point in dramatic fashion.