California Leg. OKs funding for high-speed rail line

[Wyatt earp]

I don't know why such a slow train has to cause 60 billion dollars to build? Wtf is wrong with my country????

We can't build anything anymore without it costing 4-5 times what it would in China.

Yea how come it only goes 100 mph? big frickin deal.

 

[daveman]

The hyperloop I heard would cause 1/4th the price of the train...Goes 800 mph. Why not?

That's it. The hyperloop. Is that magnet or vacuum?


It would make all rail lines obsolete.

Linear induction motors, near-vacuum, compressed air levitation.

It could work.

 

[Katzndogz]

It would work better than the unnecessary rail line.

 

[OriginalShroom]

This is as bad as the Orlando / Tampa "High Speed" rail that got pushed through a few years ago.

Basically South Florida voted for it while the rest voted against it.

 

[Trajan]

The proposed magnet tubes would make high speed rail already old and useless technology. The tubes would be cheaper and safer.

no, thats not it, theres a vacuum system thats even better, doesn't require the power a mag lev would need, damn I cannot remember the name of it

Is that the one proposed by the guy who owns SpaceX? I heard that after his proposal someone came forward and had already built a prototype.

Right then I knew that this high speed rail was going to be a waste.

exactly.......

 

[Vox]

I don't know why such a slow train has to cause 60 billion dollars to build? Wtf is wrong with my country????

We can't build anything anymore without it costing 4-5 times what it would in China.

and you are supposedly a science man

because it is an endless taxpayers money feeding tube... for chosen

 

[Vox]

This is as bad as the Orlando / Tampa "High Speed" rail that got pushed through a few years ago.

Basically South Florida voted for it while the rest voted against it.

Rick Scott killed it.

Thank God.

And Rick

 

[ScienceRocks]

I don't know why such a slow train has to cause 60 billion dollars to build? Wtf is wrong with my country????

We can't build anything anymore without it costing 4-5 times what it would in China.

and you are supposedly a science man

because it is an endless taxpayers money feeding tube... for chosen

So is your nation building in the middle east...Want a first rate military or a completive technological economy? This is what you do. Any first world country would do well to do the same.

Successful African nations are starting to do it...

 

[Harry Dresden]

Well, well. It's always darkest just before dawn.

The California high-speed rail people have been ramming their initiatives throught the system here, making promises impossible to keep and bulling ahead anyway, for years now.

And now a judge has finally called them on it.

It's not clear if the judge has the authority to acually halt the funding and stop the project, but at least he called a spade a spade. Now it will be harder for the thugs to keep going without answering a lot of questions people want answered.

One of the most spectacular promises the thugs made, is agreeing that each segment of the railroad, when built, would fully pay for itself (i.e. would support its own operating expenses, interest payments etc.) before the next segment is built... specifically including the very first segment.

That first segment is to be built from a point in the middle of nowhere in California's Central Valley (near Madera, pop. 61,000), to another point in the middle of nowhere (near Wasco, pop. 25,000). This is in the middle of the state's prime (and sparsely populated) farm country. To my knowledge, very few people in either Madersa or Wasco want to travel from their town to the other town at 100mph (and wind up in a strange town without a car to get around after they arrive), especially when they can drive the same stretch at 65 without waiting for a train. See the green segment of the line in the map below.

People from large populations centers such as San Fran/Oakland/San Jose, or Los Angeles/San Diego, would have to drive their cars a hundred miles or more, through the usual traffic jams, to get to the train station, wait for the train, and take the brief "high speed" ride for 1/3 the trip, and then find another way to get from the end station to their actual destination, without a car for the last part.

Yet the thugs assure us that enough of them will go through all that, consistently enough, to let the first segment of CHSR pay for itself. The idea that PRCalif taxpayers are likely to wind up paying the entire huge cost themselves if it doesn't come true, is never mentioned.

Well, this judge finally mentioned it.

He'd better stay away from small aircraft, isolated parks, and railroad tracks (new or old) for the next few decades, is all I can say.

-----------------------------------------------------

Judge: Calif. high-speed rail violates initiative - AP State Business News - The Sacramento Bee

Judge: Calif. high-speed rail violates initiative

By JULIET WILLIAMS
Associated Press
Published: Friday, Aug. 16, 2013 - 4:57 pm
Last Modified: Friday, Aug. 16, 2013 - 7:56 pm

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A Sacramento County judge dealt a major blow to California's high-speed rail project Friday, ruling that the agency overseeing the bullet train failed to comply with the financial and environmental promises made to voters when they approved initial funding for the project five years ago.

Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny said the California High-Speed Rail Authority "abused its discretion by approving a funding plan that did not comply with the requirements of the law" and has failed to identify "sources of funds that were more than merely theoretically possible."

Yet he declined to immediately halt funding for the project, saying it was not clear that he had the discretion to do so and he will hold another hearing to determine what happens next. A date has not yet been set.

The 2008 initiative, Proposition 1A, required the rail authority to specify where the funding would come from for the first operable segment of high-speed rail and have all the environmental clearances in place. Kenny said the agency did not comply with either of those mandates, but Proposition 1A appears to leave it up to lawmakers to decide whether the funding plan is sufficient to warrant funding.

(Full text of the article can be read at the above URL)

thank you god.....and Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny....even the state democratic legislator who was the moving force behind the HSR bond measure says this is not what th voters voted for ..

and how many millions have they already wasted on this dam thing?...

 

[ScienceRocks]

What's the latest on this?

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

There has been a long battle between BART and Caltrain here in the Bay Area, and they have wanted to get rid of Caltrain for many years and extend BART to the peninsula here.

The train is much better and comfortable. I grew up riding it in the 60's, and it's unlikely the train will be eliminated now, after the bullet train was introduced about 5 years ago.

HSR will be built along the Caltrain corridor from San Francisco to San Jose and then to Gilroy, and I suppose then along route 152 or 156 to the Central Valley.

BTW I own a house in Gilroy, but Caltrain has wanted to end service to Gilroy for about 2 years. That shows Caltrain's dedication to this plan.

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

The hyperloop I heard would cause 1/4th the price of the train...Goes 800 mph. Why not?

It would make more sense to build the hyperloop on a longer stretch in the mid-east from New York eastward.

Obama has already set out policy for the building of high-speed rail nationwide. California took some of that money, I believe, and is following that lead.

Like the loss of the right-of-ways and the huge expense to buy land back to build HSR, we have to set up a plan before we are too far committed.

 

[ScienceRocks]

When is it going to break ground?

 

[Harry Dresden]

When is it going to break ground?

it may not.....

 

[Politico]

I was wondering when Kalifornia was gonna start digging thier next hole.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

High-speed rail to finally break ground in California | DVICE

<excerpt>
Construction of the rail line is slated to begin by summer's end. Once completed, the long-anticipated high-speed rail line will connect Los Angeles and San Francisco via a 220 mph life-line. Commuters between the two major cities will complete their journey in under three hours, with stops in Fresno and Merced along the way.

The CHSRA hopes that their project will not only serve both LA and San Francisco, but will benefit the smaller cities along the route, which are likely to become vital, low-cost commuter communities. And if that weren't enough benefit, California plans to run the high-speed rail line on entirely green energy. Solar, wind and geothermal plants will combine to provide the rail line with the power it needs to reach top speed. And in good, old-fashioned tree-hugger spirit, the CHSRA will be planting trees to offset the carbon costs of construction.

It's not all blue skies and leafy greens for the project, however. Only 10 of the estimated $68 billion needed to complete the project have so far been raised. And while California governor Gerry Brown has been drumming up international interest in the project since last year, there's still a lot of financial ground to cover. If all goes well, Americans will be cruising the full length of the high-speed rail corridor by 2029.

Anyone that thinks trains are better than planes must think it is 1813.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

If this ever gets completed it will end up costing three times as much before it's said and done and will never see an economic benefit that justifies the cost of building and maintaining it.

It has already doubled in price and they haven't even had a groundbreaking. By the way, did the OP mention that a judge ruled that the funding is illegal?

 

[ScienceRocks]

They should buy some of those 310 mph bullet trains from japan!

 

[R.C. Christian]

California needs that like a hole in the head.

 

[Vikrant]

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.