High-Speed Rail [in California] Is a Progressive Fantasy

National Review ^ | October 11, 2022 | Rich Lowry

[grundle]

Original New York Times article: https://web.archive.org/web/20221009102347/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/09/us/california-high-speed-rail-politics.html

[MeganC]

California’s high speed rail project is going to end up as the world’s most expensive bike trail.

[pas]

Every time I read about this I think of the monorail episode of the Simpson’s.

[karnage]

It may be a progressive fantasy, but it has already cost billions of dollars and poured tons of concrete and seized property all over California.

Every day you drive through the Central Valley you see another overpass going up.

It is hideous. It is a total boondoggle. No one will ride it.

But it is happening.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

The true Visionaries on California’s High-Speed Rail never expected it to be completed, and never expected it to remotely pay for its build costs and maintenance costs. It was envisioned as a boondoggle project to generate at least six times its construction estimates with all the prerequisite grips levels, and frankly, it appears on track (no pun intended) to achieve that end. It was perfectly obvious that the system would never work, the moment it was conceived.

[Dr. Sivana]

O’Toole notes that Japan’s high-speed trains seemed like the future in the 1960s, when air travel was more expensive than rail. Also, Japan’s high-speed trains had a ready-made customer base in the considerable proportion of the country’s population that already traveled by train.

Yup. I remember the comic books where this appeared, back then.

[Dr. Sivana]

It was perfectly obvious that the system would never work, the moment it was conceived.

And Wisconsin lefties mocked Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker when he turned down "free" fed money for a high speed rail from Madison to Milwaukee.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

If they can't get high-speed rail between LA and Vegas then what's the point?

Every weekend Hwy 15 is jam-packed with traffic going to and from Vegas. High-speed rail might actually make sense there, and yet for some reason that doesn't even make financial sense.

Whoever thought that high-speed rail could replace low cost puddle jumper flights between LA and Frisco?

[Candor7]

I have a high speed rail for Newsom, and its made out of cedar.

I also have the tar and feathers to go along with it.

[Publius]

I met a traveler from an antique land,
Who said— “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

--Percy Shelley

[Scrambler Bob]

There is another post about the Triangle Black UFO.

This CA Rail discussion triggered that as similar.

So, CA can get some black triangle UFOs to pick up passengers from LA and ‘zap’ them to San Fran and back.

That would be cheaper, more efficient, and more sure of success than this ‘rail line’.

[G Larry]

Predictable from the first mention!

Starting in the middle and working out from that point is a stupid plan for a transportation system with no demand projected for the 20 years that followed.

This was always a money laundering scheme for DNC contributors.

[hardspunned]

Whenever I drive in California I’ll usually end up on bouncing down Rt. 99, careening on and off those tight 60s off ramps, admiring the overpasses to nowhere monuments to the California leftist gods.

[wny]

this is a state that needs 2 years and over $1.5-million to build a single toilet ..........

[The Duke]

I always thought it was strange that oil pipelines were considered dangerous to the migration of animals, but apparently high-speed rail is not.

[sit-rep]

ya... lets see what happens when its all done and the train is doing 210+ and a mild earthquake hits. I’m surprised japan’s hasnt got whacked yet this way!!

[srmanuel]

The same thing happened in Florida; the Obama Administration offered 2 billion dollars to build a high-speed rail line between Orlando and Tampa, current US Senator and former Governor Rick Scott turned it down and wanted no part of the project, liberals in Florida ruthlessly mocked him.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

One would think that a rail line through the open and sparsely populated Central Valley would be a trivial exercise. Nope.

I really believe that California has reached the stage where nothing important or significant will ever be built there again. There are too many lawyers, too many fantasy rules to follow, too many special interest obstructionists, too many people to bribe. Too many cost overruns. When the French pull out, you know you've hit rock bottom.

[A Navy Vet]

The biggest mustake were the desinations. California has considered and shelved a high-speed train to Las Vegas years ago. Those who don't or can't fly are stuck on the highways for hours and hours during holidays.

I know I've done it many times. Traffic gets so backed up on Sundays on I-5, that my buds and I had to risk a ticket for riding on the shoulder or let our motorcycle motors overheat beyond repair. The I-5 is nothing but miles and miles of desert until it connects with with Victorville. Then more miles of deserts except for the occasional small town with accomodations.

I drove from east San Diego to meet up with the Minutemen in Tombstone. Miles and miles of desert. Further than from LA to Vegas, but same experience.

South Cali taxpayers were for that high-speed link to Vegas. It was known that link would have gone through the desert along the same freight tracks in desert land, and not need to buy property for this boondoggle that is going nowhere. The concept between LA and Frisco was cool, the execution has not been.

Fast-forward to the present, and the dream is all but dead. The Obama plan collapsed, falling victim to a combination of inexperience, mismanagement and furious opposition from several key Republican legislators and state governors. The California project is still technically up and running, but it is so far behind schedule that it has yet to lay a single mile of track, despite 14 years of work and about $5bn spent.

I believe this article to be a little behind. Pretty sure the line now connects Merced to Modesto. Google a map and you'll see why this debacle is called the "train to nowhere."