Posted on 12/28/2016 6:17:48 AM PST by artichokegrower
The California High Speed Rail Authority believes it has a viable Central Valley route and funding plan—but opponents disagree, and the project remains controversial in agricultural regions that would be affected by construction.
(Excerpt) Read more at agalert.com ...
It's 110 miles between Madera and Shafter. That comes out to $70 million per mile. You can drive it in a car in an hour and one half. No offense but does anyone really want to go to either Madera or Shafter?
Norfolk and Southern Railroad could build it for 1/10 of that price. And it would run efficiently. Of course, they won’t because they can see that it would be a money-losing proposition like most rail transit schemes.
Bet the route is through some politician’s or friend of land. Calif will pay top dollar for the right-of-way.
$70 million a mile is way less than cost of building similar road capacity.
HSR is a great idea, just needs to be fully privatized
Except that people will use the road, and their fuel taxes will pay for it. The train will run half-empty, sucking tax dollars down every time it runs because fares won’t begin to pay the cost of operation, let alone the huge mortgage that will be needed to build it in the first place.
The entire boondoggle is a Union payoff with a Green cover.
Most light rail lines cost $100 million per mile.
This one is a bargain.
fuel taxes and user fees do not even cover maintenance of streets, roads, and highways much less expansion.
Driving is also massively subsidized.
We have really no idea what people’s transportation choices would be in a free market. The government has meddled for over 100 years and utterly screwed transportation up.
We should eliminate all subsidies for all transportation. Privatize all interstates. Privatize Amtrack. Eliminate Federal Gas tax.
The rail authority said $70.813 billion will be needed for the Madera-Shafter segment.
I added the extra zero as that would be the real starting cost.
Balding Eagle - The $100 Million figure comes from after completion (I assume). The $70 million represents current estimates. It may be too soon to know what this BrownDoggle will actually cost.
See post #2. It’s accurate.
Well, sort of. Senator Feinstein’s HUSBAND has the CA high speed rail construction contract, so all of the HSE funds are going to democrat parasites one way or another.
Madera and Shafter are places you drive thru, not to.
Kill the beast now!
Remove all federal transportation funding from CA until they kill the project to and from nowhere.
How many lanes would they need for similar capacity? I’m seeing 11 million per mile for six lanes from scratch via googling it. Expansion of existing roads would be less.
I have taken Amtrak many times from SF to LA. The cars are usually about half full. The route takes about eight hours, and the segment from Bakersfield to LA is by Amtrak bus.
Sorry, I meant Oakland to LA. To reach SF takes a bus also.
Willie Green would approve.
when a simple cloverleaf costs more than a billion dollars these days, $11 million a mile for a 6 lane superhighway doesn’t seem right.
we shouldn’t be arguing about which form of mobility should get the most government subsidies. let the free market decide.
eliminate all government meddling in transportation
privatize the interstates, amtrack, airports
...but if you are going nowhere what difference does it make?
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