California Leg. OKs funding for high-speed rail line

[whitehall]

There's no money, unless they borrow it (which they will). California is already $132 billion in debt. Flying is faster, safer, and you don't have to spend billions of dollars to build a rail.

Not true. If you want to fly between Los Angeles and San Francisco, by the time you are done with security and driving and parking at an airport, you have lost several hours already. We need a system where we get to a platform in LA, hop in a train and reach SF in couple of hours. It will be much better than the hassle of flying. This way you can commute home every weekend.

If you think there won't be any security on a high speed train you are mistaken. Since there will be no competition there is no critical need to be on time so you can be sure there will be delays due to breakdowns and other problems. You can bet your ass that there will be paid parking (at an exorbitant rate?), high priced ticket sales and hundreds of security personnel with a waiting line for the metal detector. Flying might be more economical by the time the California regime finishes the monstrosity.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I live in Northern California and my job often takes me to Southern California. I really wish there was an economical and fast way to travel back and forth.

You might think this is a bit high, but you can do it for $1.

$1 Express Bus Service From L.A. To Bay Area and Vegas is Back!: LAist

If one has 7 1/2 hours and $59.

You could fly for about $200 and 5 1/2 hours, but keep whining about the price.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

There's no money, unless they borrow it (which they will). California is already $132 billion in debt. Flying is faster, safer, and you don't have to spend billions of dollars to build a rail.

Not true. If you want to fly between Los Angeles and San Francisco, by the time you are done with security and driving and parking at an airport, you have lost several hours already. We need a system where we get to a platform in LA, hop in a train and reach SF in couple of hours. It will be much better than the hassle of flying. This way you can commute home every weekend.

That system is not going to be built.

 

[Katzndogz]

There's no money, unless they borrow it (which they will). California is already $132 billion in debt. Flying is faster, safer, and you don't have to spend billions of dollars to build a rail.

Not true. If you want to fly between Los Angeles and San Francisco, by the time you are done with security and driving and parking at an airport, you have lost several hours already. We need a system where we get to a platform in LA, hop in a train and reach SF in couple of hours. It will be much better than the hassle of flying. This way you can commute home every weekend.

That system is not going to be built.

Is it supposed to be built? Or is it supposed to be a plan to enrich the politicians and their supporters by looting the funds?

 

[Vikrant]

The distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco is 558.68km. If we could build a train that could travel 250km/hour, it would be worth it. It would allow weekly commuters to hop on a train on Friday at 5pm and be home by 8pm. There are lots of professionals who work in specialized fields. They have to expand their potential job market as much as they can. I personally would love to use such a system. If I am the only potential customer then it is not viable. However if there are significant number of potential customers then it is viable.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

The distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco is 558.68km. If we could build a train that could travel 250km/hour, it would be worth it. It would allow weekly commuters to hop on a train on Friday at 5pm and be home by 8pm. There are lots of professionals who work in specialized fields. They have to expand their potential job market as much as they can. I personally would love to use such a system. If I am the only potential customer then it is not viable. However if there are significant number of potential customers then it is viable.

It has 11 stops between LA and San Francisco, 3 of them before it even gets out of LA county. In order to average 250 km/hr it would have to top out at over 650 km/hr, which would make it the fastest train in the world.

 

[S.J.]

Reality check here. We don't have the money!

 

[Vikrant]

The distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco is 558.68km. If we could build a train that could travel 250km/hour, it would be worth it. It would allow weekly commuters to hop on a train on Friday at 5pm and be home by 8pm. There are lots of professionals who work in specialized fields. They have to expand their potential job market as much as they can. I personally would love to use such a system. If I am the only potential customer then it is not viable. However if there are significant number of potential customers then it is viable.

It has 11 stops between LA and San Francisco, 3 of them before it even gets out of LA county. In order to average 250 km/hr it would have to top out at over 650 km/hr, which would make it the fastest train in the world.

There should be an express train between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

 

[Vikrant]

Reality check here. We don't have the money!

I think it will be a profitable venture if we can come up with a system with right speed and cost. You will be surprised how many specialized professionals need this service.

 

[S.J.]

The distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco is 558.68km. If we could build a train that could travel 250km/hour, it would be worth it. It would allow weekly commuters to hop on a train on Friday at 5pm and be home by 8pm. There are lots of professionals who work in specialized fields. They have to expand their potential job market as much as they can. I personally would love to use such a system. If I am the only potential customer then it is not viable. However if there are significant number of potential customers then it is viable.

It has 11 stops between LA and San Francisco, 3 of them before it even gets out of LA county. In order to average 250 km/hr it would have to top out at over 650 km/hr, which would make it the fastest train in the world.

There should be an express train between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

You wanna pay for it?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

The distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco is 558.68km. If we could build a train that could travel 250km/hour, it would be worth it. It would allow weekly commuters to hop on a train on Friday at 5pm and be home by 8pm. There are lots of professionals who work in specialized fields. They have to expand their potential job market as much as they can. I personally would love to use such a system. If I am the only potential customer then it is not viable. However if there are significant number of potential customers then it is viable.

It has 11 stops between LA and San Francisco, 3 of them before it even gets out of LA county. In order to average 250 km/hr it would have to top out at over 650 km/hr, which would make it the fastest train in the world.

There should be an express train between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

There can't be, there is no way to get a train into LA unless you slow it down enough not to run the risk of killing half the city in an accident.

 

[S.J.]

Reality check here. We don't have the money!

I think it will be a profitable venture if we can come up with a system with right speed and cost. You will be surprised how many specialized professionals need this service.

Then let them pay for it.

 

[Vikrant]

They are going to pay when they ride it. It should not be a free ride. Of course not.

 

[S.J.]

They are going to pay when they ride it. It should not be a free ride. Of course not.

And the taxpayers (who pay up front for it) never get their money back.

 

[Vikrant]

It has 11 stops between LA and San Francisco, 3 of them before it even gets out of LA county. In order to average 250 km/hr it would have to top out at over 650 km/hr, which would make it the fastest train in the world.

There should be an express train between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

There can't be, there is no way to get a train into LA unless you slow it down enough not to run the risk of killing half the city in an accident.

You can build tunnel. You can build bridge. You can do all sort of things to bypass the traffic.

 

[S.J.]

They are going to pay when they ride it. It should not be a free ride. Of course not.

Let them pay the up front cost to build it, THEN they can pay themselves back out of the profits. Why should people who will never use it have to pay to build it?

 

[Vikrant]

They are going to pay when they ride it. It should not be a free ride. Of course not.

And the taxpayers (who pay up front for it) never get their money back.

There should be a feasibly study to assess the profitability of the project.

 

[westwall]

I guess Europe, China, and Japan just don't understand.

In all of those places TWO lines are not running in the red. TWO! You should figure out how much it will cost the people of CA. Then figure out the airline alternative, and see how many years of operation it would take to make it pay.

 

[westwall]

There's no money, unless they borrow it (which they will). California is already $132 billion in debt. Flying is faster, safer, and you don't have to spend billions of dollars to build a rail.

Not true. If you want to fly between Los Angeles and San Francisco, by the time you are done with security and driving and parking at an airport, you have lost several hours already. We need a system where we get to a platform in LA, hop in a train and reach SF in couple of hours. It will be much better than the hassle of flying. This way you can commute home every weekend.

What makes you think the trains will be exempt? Time for you to get a clue...

TSA rail, subway spot-checks raise privacy issues

TSA rail, subway spot-checks raise privacy issues - CNN.com

 

[Quantum Windbag]

They are going to pay when they ride it. It should not be a free ride. Of course not.

It shouldn't be built because the projected cost for a ticket has already tripled, and the travel time has doubled. If this keeps up by the time the do build it it will cost you $3000 to go from LA to SF and take 4 days.