Calif. high-speed train in political storm

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Jerry Brown of California is riding into an election year on a wave of popularity and an upturn in the state’s fortunes. But a project that has become a personal crusade for him over the past two years — a 520-mile high-speed train line from Los Angeles to San Francisco — is in trouble, reeling from a court ruling that undermined its financing, and from slipping public support and opponents’ rising calls to shut it down.

Mr. Brown and his advisers have strongly affirmed their support for the planned $68 billion rail line, the most ambitious government project attempted in California since the eastern section of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco was completed last year. They urged the public to weather the setbacks that are almost inevitable for projects of this scope.

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