Posted on 10/24/2015 6:57:47 PM PDT by BAW
he monumental task of building California's bullet train will require punching 36 miles of tunnels through the geologically complex mountains north of Los Angeles.
Crews will have to cross the tectonic boundary that separates the North American and Pacific plates, boring through a jumble of fractured rock formations and a maze of earthquake faults, some of which are not mapped.
It will be the most ambitious tunneling project in the nation's history.
State officials say the tunnels will be finished by 2022 along with 300 miles of track, dozens of bridges or viaducts, high-voltage electrical systems, a maintenance plant and as many as six stations. Doing so will meet a commitment to begin carrying passengers between Burbank and Merced in the first phase of the $68-billion high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
However, a Times analysis of project documents, as well as interviews with scientists, engineers and construction experts, indicates that the deadline and budget targets will almost certainly be missed and that the state has underestimated the challenges ahead, particularly completing the tunneling on time.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
What do they care? It’s taxpayer money.
-——Rail officials have said they plan to choose a route and secure environmental approvals for the Burbank-to-Merced line by 2017, at which point the tunneling itself could be put out to bid-——
They aren’t even going to start to build the tunnel boring machines until 2019...
They haven’t even got past the environment paperwork....
They are building actually a twin bore tunnel, so it’s 72 miles of tunneling...
It will be completed by 2022....?
Wow... Someone is living in a complete and total fantasyland....
Not only will it cost 5X what was budgeted, ridership will be 1/5 of what was projected. This is a total loser and will bankrupt the state. Idiot Dems and their fascination with 1840s technology — why??
With an extended period of draught and resulting water shortage which also will impact their agriculture they would be a whole lots better off by investing in huge desalination projects which could be powered by solar power as they have plenty of sunshine.
As far as water conservation is concerned they could take a few lessons from the Israelis, who would be more than willing to furnish the blue prints for huge hydroponic growth centers, which use minimal amounts of water and at the same time raise fish as well as a byproduct.
Not only that but it also would produce many jobs in regards to maintenance, growing procedures and shipping. But well before something like this would be implemented conditions will have to get lots worse before anyone sees the light, and I have a feeling that we are headed this way.
The train to nowhere.
Really quite unexpected...
They really shouldn't use that term "bullet". Even in a best-case scenario, the trains will slow to a crawl within a hundred miles of the endpoints SF and LA. Folks in both areas are upset about the changes required for commerce and traffic near the proposed rail line, and there's no way to have a fast train anywhere near the city. It would have been easier to build an elevated rail line over the ocean near the coast than satisfy all the entities involved. (And no, I'm not suggesting that be done!)
Actually the train never makes it to SF you have to use buses in the Bay Area to get to the ‘fast’ part with the train
Every election cycle we'll hear how a candidate will guarantee that s/he will make the trains run on time...
That's the stupid mindset
They want to run 20 trains / hour on the SF Peninsula — one every 3 minutes. 8 will be the new bullet trains and 12 electrified CalTrain commuter trains. The noise is going to be incessant here and is on top of the new flight routes to SFO that put all SFO bound traffic right over Palo Alto. People are hopping mad here and discovering the fedgov doesn’t give a sh!t about them.
Right, can’t say “bullet.” Maybe change name to “wizard.”
Remember what name-changer B0 Stevedunhambarrysoetorobathhousebarrysoebarkah said about trains...
“No pat-downs!”
Let it serve as the Mt Rushmore of California Idiocy commemorating the stupidity and corruption of ‘leaders’ that have led this state to the brink of disaster.
What’s the carbon footprint of this project uhhh boondoggle?
and will it stomp out stupid or will we have to wait for a Big One to hit to do that? and even then..
original ballot measure:
http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_1A,_High-Speed_Rail_Act_%282008%29
Lord have mercy what a colossal waste of money.
Desal plants instead would be a wiser way to spend that money.
Of course it is another Democrat money laundry.
Pray America wakes
Instead of building more reservoirs, pumping stations, water pipelines, desalination plants, prisons, roads, etc., the Stalinists in Sacramento intend to spend 100s of billions on a worthless train that runs between the high desert and Las Vegas. Doesnt go anywhere near Los Angeles. Bribes, kickbacks, payoffs, and all manner of criminal acts are at play.
...
The elected crooks do love expensive construction projects because it’s easy to skim a fortune and not get caught.
I like it!
Burbank to Mercedthat’ll generate a lot of traffic.
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