Posted on 07/09/2008 6:43:10 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has placed his support behind a costly high-speed rail system in California.
Schwarzenegger told NBC11 he wants California to lead the way in transporting commuters across the state at near-record speeds while reducing global warming at the same time.
Critics have said the state's proposed high-speed rail system is too costly and too good to be true, NBC11's Mike Luery reported.
On the very spot where the Transcontinental Railroad was established nearly 140 years ago, Schwarzenegger told Luery that a less-than-three-hour trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles represents the type of progress that can take place in the Golden State.
"I think we need high speed rail," Schwarzenegger said. "If you think right now our trains in America are running the same speed as 100 years ago. That's not progress. I think we can do much better than that."
Under the state's high-speed rail plan, trains will travel at 225 mph.
At first they will travel from The Bay Area to Burbank, and then eventually from San Diego to Sacramento. The ticket might cost about $50.
Part of the goal is to reduce the state's carbon footprint by taking cars off the road.
However, voters must approve $10 billion Proposition 1 this fall.
Even Schwarzenegger admits the proposal would only pay for about one quarter of the cost of the entire train system. That is why opponents are determined to see it stopped dead in its tracks.
"It just doesn't pencil out," said state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks. "It's $40 billion just in construction. That's more than $1,000 for every man, woman and child in this state -- all for a train that will go from L.A. to San Francisco in about two hours longer than it takes to fly there."
McClintock called the system a boondoggle and said that the money would be better spent improving California's highways.
I only support a subsidized high speed rail system if it can get me from SF to LV so I can lose bundles.....
Cool, I’m pretty sure the state can take out another loan to pay for it. /s
That makes a lot more sense than this monster.
What’s another $50 or $60 Billion of debt when it’s all done.
California is loaded, right?
Well, at least the legislators and Gub are.
On what is another question.
actually, you have a better shot of seeing an LA to LV connection, let the states share the cost..
This is the reason why y’all are going for bankruptcy out there.
Jaa, and the hi-speed rail from LA to Las Vegas has been talked about for 25+ years. Wait until the bunnies and bugs
water melon crew get into it and it’ll be 100 years before you see a tie and rail laid down, if then.
Just...amazing...CA really is in a state of suspended reality, what’s another 10 billion in debt here or there among friends?
How about tamping out even ONE of the dozens of forest fires that are currently raging in your state, Gov’nuh?
and this comrades,
from der furhrer that flys daily from los anhaylays to sacramento,
and owns a half dozen bummers.
I can't laugh loud enough for this one.
It’s not bankruptcy, in this PC age, it’s insolvency. :-)
willie green wil be pleased.
That socialist POS can take his high speed rail and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine!
On the very spot where the Transcontinental Railroad was established nearly 140 years ago, Schwarzenegger told Luery that a less-than-three-hour trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles represents the type of progress that can take place in the Golden State.
I would ask him if he is gonna give up his private jet and ride the train. What do you think? lol
The “Best States for Business” rankings came out today. Texas is #1, of course, while California ranked #25. You’d think Ahhnold would have something other to suggest than another expensive scheme to add to the $15 billion dollar budget deficit.
To the rider maybe but it will probably cost an additional $500 to the taxpayer per ride. Public transportation fares typically cover only 10% of the operating costs. You can already get from the SF Bay Area to Burbank in 50 minutes flying Southwest Airlines. About 6 months ago I did that on Southwest Airlines for $50. And they paid taxes and turned a profit and didn't charge the taxpayers a dime. Airliners get much better fuel economy per passenger mile than the typical Prius hybrid and they do it at 10 times the speed. Flying is the greenest transportation technology ever invented.
$14 bill a year in services to people in the country illegally and no ideas how to cut the deficit.
he scams.
i voted for him once, but not twice.
i regret it.
i should have followed my intuition after i read the story about the terminator
and his buds having sex train at gold’s gym on the beach.
it was disgusting and he never refuted the front page los angeles times article.
It needs funding. Rail costs a lot. In Phoenix, the light rail costs upwards of $100 million per mile. See Coyote Blog at http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2008/07/100-million-a-m.html
Environmental legislation. Yeah, it's sort of funny that environmentalists got all these enviro laws passed, and they also advocate high speed rail. Problem is, high speed rail must get environmental impact statement clearances. These take longer to get than taking Amtrak coast to coast.
Take the South East High Speed Rail Corridor. It is going to gets its environmental impact statement completed in mid 2011. Now, you might say to yourself, that's only three years away. That's long, but it's not outrageous.
Yeah, except that the SEHSR Corridor was conceived in 1992 as this page points out.
In 1999, as the web page describes, "North Carolina and Virginia began a Tier I Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the SEHSR from Washington, DC to Charlotte, NC. This corridor level document examined nine alternatives."
So the EIS takes from 1999 to 2011. And it takes seven years from the time that the DOT and a four state coalition was put together to get the RR going.
Passenger service is slated to begin sometime between 2015 and 2020.
So let me get this straight. We aren't supposed to drill for oil because it might take 10 years, but we can wait 23 to 28 years for high speed rail?
Arnold really is a MORON. A true Bloomberg Republican.
The trouble with political savvy is that many are too lazy to understand the process.
In this case the Senator understands that to get the funding and the permissions, the state needs the cooperation of the many legislators in the Great Central Valley. They won't sign unless there is a stop in their district.
The bullet train now becomes a local commuter which reaches its top speed for a few minutes between obligatory, political stops. The 3 hour trip now becomes 7 hours, most spent trying to get the train out the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley after the obligatory stop at a significant Kern County population center.
A high speed train from Sacramento to San Diego for 50 bucks? Will the passengers be expected to peddle?
Expect the Ca. taxpayers to get railroaded on this boondoggle idea. Looking to the state of Michigan for inspirational ideas there Arrrrrrnold?
We’re broke, so let’s spend some more! Lefties soiling their own nest. Trashing their state, then running away to mine and other states, spreading the disease. Sick sons o’ *bleep*s!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Environmental legislation? If the going gets too tough, they’ll exempt themselves.
Financing High-Speed Trains with Public-Private Partnerships (PDF)
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
And if you add in al the waste, fraud, and incompetence that comes with any government project, the true total should come around to 280 billion.
Which is exactly what they want to do. They are proposing a "public private partnership," which will allow a private enterprise to have not only taxpayer money to finance their boondoggle but the power of eminent domain and taxation to make it profitable. Environmental laws will be waived for only the special interests, prohibiting market forces from entering into the equation. When all is said and done, the private enterprise will take their guaranteed profits and compensation and we will have another losing project, used by low-income Californians, subsidized by billions of taxpayer dollars.
Build more roads you jackass.
TRAINS ARE NOT THE ANSWER!
They steal the gax tax funds to build mass transit, and our highways remain 1960s versions of what we need in 2010.
We got no money for highways, ya.
Gov. Schwarzenegger Throws Support Behind High-Speed RailHe might as well. He already threw his supporters in front of a high-speed train.
The San Diego train museum has a replica of this Tehachapi Loop, as they call it. It's big, curvy, and to scale. Plus, it has all kinds of little trains running on it....
There is some info on the proposed route, here:
http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/map.htm
If you click on the photos (that are also streaming), you can find where they are also proposing a tunnel, windfarms, and of course big-time development projects along the route. Developers have been salivating over this one for a while now.
Or is it “a negative balance sheet”?
The theme in US politics 2008 seems to be:
“Shut up and pay peasant, we know what is best for you”
In 1990, the voters approved a $2 billion rail initiative that was supposed to build high speed rail between Sacramento and Oakland. It never happened.
Better yet, let the riders share the cost. If it were potentially profitable, BNSF would already have that train running. Like most of these "public transportation" boondoggles, the taxpayer takes it in the shorts so that they can discount the price enough to make it competitive with driving.
The most effective way to take "cars off the road" in California would be to deport the millions of illegals that help clog the taxpayer-funded arteries that exist already.
Build a tunnel! What the heck, they can do the whole thing as a subway, that would only cost $50 or $60 billion more. Why be cheap about it?
You nailed it! Look no further than the Big Dig in Ma.
This guy has become way more embarrassing than even Gray Davis!!!
The sad thing is that he’s apparently the most conservative governor California can elect.
Add up the costs per passenger mile. Double it at least because they always lowball the estimate to sell it to the taxpayer, and then compare it to air travel which is faster.
It’s probably technologically feasible, but that doesn’t mean it makes sense. The money would almost surely be better used, if you decided to rob taxpayer money in the first place, to subsidize air travel.
Well, I just can't buy into that. What if we'd have thought that when Ronnie decided to run against Pat Brown??? You were around here then, weren't you???
Hell, by the looks of things, Gray Davis was more conservative than this idiot!!!
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