Posted on 03/24/2010 9:02:51 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
In a blow to high-speed-rail critics lobbying for the train line from Los Angeles to end in San Jose, Caltrain officials said Tuesday that the idea would require the same Peninsula track expansion while harming local commuter service and stripping the agency of funding.
For riders to take the bullet train from Southern California to San Jose and transfer to an express Caltrain to San Francisco — as some critics and planners have proposed — Caltrain would have to add tracks or eliminate commute service to accommodate them, said Bob Doty, Caltrain's joint high-speed-rail program director.
As a result, whether high-speed rail runs to San Jose or San Francisco, the impact on Peninsula residents and businesses — namely property taking, noise and aesthetics — would be virtually the same. But were it to stop in San Jose, train service would be longer and less convenient, and Doty said the project would cost about the same but have fewer funding sources.
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Despite the obstacles, residents and officials along the tracks continue to hope that the bullet train will connect to electrified Caltrain service in San Jose, called the "hybrid" option, instead of the current plan to run high-speed rail directly to San Francisco.
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Rail planners estimate that 120,700 riders will use the system each day by 2035, with 38,100 boarding in the Bay Area — roughly equivalent to the number of people that ride Caltrain daily now.
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While state planners have said the hybrid option may be possible, Rod Diridon, a California High-Speed Rail Authority board member from San Jose, said it would violate Proposition 1A. The $9.95 billion bond voters approved in November 2008 to launch the $42.6 billion project stipulated that the train connect to San Francisco's Transbay Terminal.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
piece meal politics in action.
$42.6 billion.. yeah right..
build one from Vegas to LA first..
D’oh.
Ann Arbor-to-Detroit rail line delayed due to funding shortage
http://www.annarbor.com/news/ann-arbor-to-detroit-rail-line-delayed/
The HSR railjob here in California will take forever to build, cost at least twice as much as “budgeted” and little of it will be made here..
locally, folks on the peninsula are not onboard.. lawsuits loom..
sheesh....turf battles over funding for a rail system that will likely never be built....welcome to your Obama future
Gosh I'm glad I moved.
A person could make a whole career out of just planning and studying the thing.
He is not alone in fostering this mess.
Shades of not ringing the bay with Bart years ago.. only High-Speedier.. and costlier.
Heck, all you’re gonna hear if you live near the track is whooosh or clang clang clang.
If I can’t get on a train in San Jose and get off it in Vegas without changing trains, why go?
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