OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY: Officials are raising the projected cost of the first phase of California’s bullet train by 35 percent, to $10.6 billion.

The extra $2.8 billion comes on a 199-mile segment in the Central Valley that is partly under construction. The California High Speed Rail Authority board discussed the increase Tuesday.

The added cost is due to delays in obtaining rights of way and barriers needed along parts of the track, among other things.

It boosts the overall cost of the project to nearly $67 billion, which officials say they hope to recover later.

Keep in mind two things. The first is that the $10.6 billion first phase is the “high-speed train to nowhere” connecting Merced to Bakersfield. The second is that much of the money officials hope to recover will probably be “recovered” by extracting it from California taxpayers rather than from fare-paying riders.