“Let’s be real,” California’s impeccably progressive new governor said as he delivered a huge kick in the teeth to one of the Green New Deal’s centerpieces: a national high-speed rail system.

In his State of the State Address, Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted what’s long been beyond obvious: The bullet-train project linking Los Angeles and San Francisco would “cost too much and take too long.”

That’s an understatement. Back in 2008, voters approved a project they were told would cost $32 billion and open in 2029. The price tag soon soared to at least $77 billion, with the finish pushed back four years (and counting).

Actually, the cost had ballooned to $117 billion, though officials played accounting games to cite lower numbers — but with every expectation that more delays and overruns were in store.

Even now, the state can count on only $18 billion in financing, which may cover a (point­less) high-speed line from Merced (pop. 83,000) to Bakersfield (380,000).

Newsom later “clarified” that he’s still “committed” to the LA-’Frisco link — because he doesn’t want to repay $3.5 billion in federal funding that’s already been spent.

The California project was supposed to show how high-speed rail can replace air travel and help save the planet. But that ignores the expense, limited consumer demand and other practical problems — and the risk that technological change will render the investment worthless by the time anything gets built.

Ironically, Newsom delivered his news just days after the Green New Deal launched with its own bullet-train fantasies. You couldn’t ask for a better-timed reality check.