700-mile high-speed rail plan zipping along

Valley Press on ^ | Tuesday, April 10, 2007 | ALLISON GATLIN

[BenLurkin]

"Several plans also have been discussed relating to a regional high-speed rail system, including a joint-powers authority of more than a dozen cities - including Palmdale - called the Orangeline Development Authority. The Orangeline plan calls for a 100-mile route from Orange County to Palmdale using magnetic levitation technology."

[BenLurkin]

"The record-setting 357-mph run of France's high-speed rail last week also may reinvigorate some interest and support for the California project. A delegation of state lawmakers was on hand for the record run during a visit to examine France's system."

[Seruzawa]

So, they haven’t tossed enough money on LA’s subway system?

I guess the contractors have to be fed so the Sacto bureaucrats can get nice fat retirement jobs.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

If they're going to build it, START BUILDING IT ALREADY.

As for mag-lev, the French have shown that conventional trains can still be quite competitive for a fraction of the cost of maglevs.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) still hasn’t reached San Jose, either.

[Eye of Unk]

I thought it did years ago? I ussed to live there, maybe it does?

[mtbopfuyn]

Oh, I get it. They weren’t building a 700 mile fence to keep illegals out, they were building a 700 mile high-speed rail to get them here faster.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

BART still hasn’t reached San Jose.

[sergeantdave]

I used to drive in from my cave in the Mayacama range and eat free food in the San Jose bars on Friday nights. Good stuff, and a nice change from scorpion tails and manzanita salad.

Has BART been taken over by the winos, bums and socialist mayors yet?

[ZGuy]

Only a government agency would build a 700 mile rail line between two cities that are only 400 miles apart.

[Atlas Sneezed]

LOL!

[goldstategop]

It will NEVER be built. They've been studying this to death for decades. Its created lots of paperwork for bureaucrats with too much time on their hands but it hasn't built a single high speed rail track segment in California.

"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

[rottndog]

So, they haven’t tossed enough money on LA’s subway system?

Naw....$600+ million a mile is chump change nowadays. Besides, we're starting to look bad compared to the Big Dig, so we have to catch up. I'm sure the Kalifonia bureaucracy can waste MUCH more money.

[Mr. Jeeves]

They should do L.A.-to-Las Vegas first - it's shorter and there are far fewer environmental and infrastructural obstacles.

Or better yet (and cheaper), build a separate high-speed freeway alongside I-15 and raise the limit to 100 mph.

[Mr. Jeeves]

BART may get to San Jose, Livermore, and Brentwood in another ten years. May. ;)

[School of Rational Thought]

Sure they can build a 700 mile rail system but not a 700 mile border fence.

[colonialhk]

Birds will die

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

The only path that’s even reasonably flat between LA and SF is along Route 101 by the coast, over some of the most expensive real estate in the world (Malibu, Santa Barbara, etc.). If they are planning to build this train through Palmdale that’s fine, but I wonder what they plan to do about the 6,000 foot tall Sierra Nevada standing in their way? Right now the train stops in LA and they send buses over the mountains to Bakersfield, where the passengers board the train to continue going north. I must be missing something here.

[Designer II]

"I must be missing something here."

Seems you are not missing anything except perhaps this:

Can you say "long, expensive tunnel"? A tunnel that will require constant on-going maintenance, an expensive, complicated ventilation system, and a "bureauocracy-in-perpetuity" to "manage" it.

But don't worry about a lot of people getting killed in there due to an earthquake-induced collapse, because there will not be many people who will use it anyway.

[LexBaird]

If they are planning to build this train through Palmdale that’s fine, but I wonder what they plan to do about the 6,000 foot tall Sierra Nevada standing in their way?

Well, according to the article, they want to go through the Tehachapi pass from Bakersfield to Mohave, across Antelope Valley, and down Soledad, where the current freight rails run.

Right now the train stops in LA and they send buses over the mountains to Bakersfield, where the passengers board the train to continue going north. I must be missing something here.

Currently, the owners of the right of way (UP? Southern Pac?) don't want to let Amtrak use their rails, IIRC. I don't remember if that involved losing freight routes, or upgrading the track for higher speed. I assume the passenger rail proposal is to build a parallel high speed rail beside the freight line.