Posted on 11/27/2011 3:15:47 PM PST by goldstategop
millions? lol. The studies probably cost millions. Remember the “Big dig” in Boston?
Fresno to Bakersfield?
How many billions will that cost and how many regular people would actually PAY (a tenth of the actual cost no doubt) to ride it?
Nonsense.
At it's top speed a car is still twice as fast as the train. You do the math:
The train and the car leave Fresno at the same time. The car gets on the US99 and maintains an average speed of 60mph arriving in LA 4 hours later. The train leaves for it first, political stop, 25 miles down the track. It reaches a speed of 60 mph before beginning its declaration for the next station. It sits in the station the obligatory 6 minutes to disembark/embark passengers. Stop after political stop along the way, the train falls further and further behind the car.
Each station that was promised to secure the vote of a particular Assemblyman dooms the concept.
I had in mind the assumption between Fresno and Bakersfield the train would go its top speed of 220 MPH. If its only going as fast as a regular train, why bother? As you correctly pointed out, the greatest danger with the bullet train is political interference that will compromise the reason for its construction. Californians may end up getting a train that falls far short of the advertised goal for various reasons. There wouldn’t be so much controversy if it could be assured in advance it would actually be a bullet train. The proponents can’t deliver on that and that - money aside, is what makes this a questionable venture.
All we need to do is hire one idiot enviro nazi to find a bug, slug or rat and we could stop this boonedoggle in it’s tracks; keep it tied up in court for ever.
According to the CHSRA web site, the train would AVERAGE 172 mph between Fresno and Bakersfield. AVERAGE 172 mph! No mention of the obligatory stop in Hanford.
Ditto Fresno to Los Angeles. 177 mph AVERAGE SPEED here! Again no mention of the 6, obligatory, political stops (Hanford, Bakersfield, Palmdale, San Fernando and Burbank) along the way adding 36 minutes of 0 mph to the schedule.
Yup, a 220 mph vehicle could average 177 mph over 255 miles, but not from a standing start, not with a stop at the end of the run and only over level ground.
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