California's major cities are almost in a line along the coast. That's the route that makes sense.
California's HSR instead took a tour through the Central Valley's farming communities, taking a slam dunk pitch for linking San Francisco and San Diego via L.A. and turning it into a carcass.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%AB%C5%8D_Shinkansen
"About 90% of the 286-kilometre (178 mi) line to Nagoya will be built underground or through tunnels"
[1] Americans have been carefully propagandized to believe that governments can't do anything right. And cars represent manhood and freedom.
[2] For instance Ubber and Lift are funding the same anti public transportation organizations the Koch brother(s) were.
Then the people decide to give the government a chance, pass a proposition asking for rail, and then the government completely screws it up. Terrible route, corrupt, massively over budget, graft, and effectively cancelled after a decade of waste and work. So now even progressive people in progressive California are thinking the government can't so anything right, not because of propaganda, but because they see the failure.
No matter how you slice it the original route is going to leave some people out.
Always possible to build the high speed rail and then run another connector down the Salinas Valley between Monterrey and Santa Barbara on to Thousand Oaks. (Following HWY 101 basically) Political opposition that is probably bigger than the geography though.
Amusing to me he did the Rip Van Winkle and popped up as Governor again after 30 years. In office he pushed hard to get CHSR built. Every time California's high speed rails come up on HN it's obvious that everyone here hates the idea. So the US is getting what it's collectively asking for and deserves here.