A former leader of an oversight group for California’s high-speed rail project says the effort has reached a “dead end,” citing a lack of funding, leadership and management as costs continue to climb and no tracks have been installed. Louis Thompson, the former chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority Peer Review Group, led the panel for more than a decade after it was created alongside the 2008 voter approval of Proposition 1A. The group was tasked with reviewing the plan and evaluating the railway’s progress. “The Peer Review Group, and shortly thereafter The Legislative Analysts Office in almost perfect parallel, were delivering the message to the legislature that you've got problems,” Thompson said. Thompson, who has worked on multiple railway ventures and said he believes in the promise of high-speed rail in California, wrote in a letter to state leaders that the project is now at a dead end. MORE: kmph.com/watch Stay up to date with our social media: KMPH on Fa...