California -- High Speed Trains
 

A 30 % increase in population is projected for California in the next 30 years -- with a population of 50 Million projected for 2050.

One proposal for the California of tomorrow is High Speed Trains.

http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/im...ome/header.gif

http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/

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You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD1QGNsRg74&eurl

Los Angeles to San Francisco in Ten Minutes by Video

Curbed SF
March 14, 2007
by Philip

From our sibs in LA, news of a high-speed rail line. We've heard they have these in foreign countries like France. As befits the world's seventh largest economy, the Calfornia High Speed Rail Authority is beginning the environmental review process. And to give us a better picture of who they are and what they're doing, they've got an video on Youtube. Not on Myspace or LiveJournal (angst later.)

So many questions. Will this run on existing Amtrack track? When you say 2.5 hours from LA to SF, do you really mean Oakland, or will some yet-unknown political strongman lube this thing into the Transbay Center? Are all those windmills in the background supposed to make us feel good and birds feel bad? Will there be a Car Train? Bar car?

If you do the math, It will be San Francisco to Disneyland in three hours. Priceless.

· California HIgh-Speed Trains in Stunning 4D [Curbed LA]

Route Map --

San Diego to Sacramento

http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/images/route_map.jpg

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Why can't New York do something like this?

1. Cost for this thing will be astronomical
2. Unless the trains will be able to reach over 200mph it's not worth it, Japaneses/Europeans have been using bullet trains going at 180mph for decades
3. California is too much of a car culture
4. Arnold won't do it because there's not enough money or public support
5. Does not address many of California's transportation issues
6. Not Maglev so marginally better then Acela trains which are a joke
7. Too late, they should have started it in 1996 when the costs were still controllable

I hope California can pull this off.

Despite California's image a gas-guzzling, car oriented society, it has the lowest per-capita energy use of any state. Since the early 70s, U.S, energy use per-capital has increased 50%, but California's has remained constant.

^ Every state has environmental regulations --many of them idiotic-- but California has the smart variety.

Southern California may be ghastly, but the rest of the state is wonderfully unspoiled compared with most U.S. states --like a European country. There are thousands of square miles of preserved scenic beauty and wilderness, you can drive for hundreds of miles on the coast highway without seeing a billboard or a parking lot, and there are such diverse and interesting municipalities as San Francisco, Carmel, Berkeley, Bolinas, Mendocino, Santa Barbara... My son remarked, "It's like a foreign country."

Makes me realize how wretchedly wasted most of this country is.

I am wondering if they can get the rail any closer to the fault line!!! http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/wink.png

That is silly really, Japan has the same worries and a MUCH higher population density and they got these lines through, we should be able to do the same.

But the key factors here are money and time. How much and how long will it take?

Actually the major fault line (San Andreas) runs much closer to the coast, which could create a problem near SD, LA and SF -- although the state is littered with fault lines ...

http://tapestry.usgs.gov/features/z_images/z25.jpg

http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/gstimson/faultmac.gif

I was looking at the mountain ranges and I thought that some of them defined fault zones after the plains....

The Sierra Nevada (Beer Fault) might prove to be more of a problem....

While there are lots of earthquakes in the area of the Sierra Nevada fault line (which is well east of the planned rail route) the real problem over that way might prove to be volcanic activity ...

Long Valley Volcano

A giant's malaise - earthquakes trigger in dormant California volcano

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/fi...ges/lv_map.gif

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/fi...s/lv_map_2.gif

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/fi...ng_valley.html

LOL!

If you've ever been to Hayward ^ it makes complete sense http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/cool.png

Actually it's because from the Central Valley to the Bay Area (the blue chain link fence zone) there are a number of possible train routes; a couple of them are shown on these 3-D animation vids over at youtube:

California High-Speed Trains: Altamont Pass

California High-Speed Trains: Pacheco Pass

Funny how it is pretty strait through much of its run (including SF), but when it gets to SoCal, it goes all squirrely......

NIMBY or "We need a station here!!!"?

California's finances are in terrible shape right now. There's no way they will build such an expensive project in the foreseeable future.

http://www.palisadespost.com/content...?Story_ID=3786

I don't listen to this nay-saying... don't worry, it will get done someday, just have some faith man..

It may be done in states that continue to grow, have lower taxes, attract new residents and are more business friendly like Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Florida, etc. California's fiscal situation is getting worse every year. It had deficits and highest income taxes during the boom years. Now, in recession, it's really disintegrating.

http://www.economist.com/world/na/di...ry_id=10962668

Nothing a good earthquake wouldn't fix ...

Just think of the economic stimulus package that would be needed -- and the jobs that would be created http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/cool.png

You'd make a killing out there.

HSRA hopes to build SF-SJ, LA-Anaheim starter lines in a few years

Published Thursday, November 6, 2008, by the Sacramento Bee

California bullet train's win is first fiscal step

By Tony Bizjak

After a decade stuck in the station, California's bullet train dreams
got a huge boost this week when voters approved Proposition 1A, the
$10 billion construction bond measure.

Supporters hailed the vote as putting California at the forefront
nationally on alternative transportation.

Bullet trains, they say, will allow travelers to speed from the
north state to the south in nearly two hours at 200 miles per hour
-- bypassing congested airports and freeways.

"The people of California are smart enough to realize we need to
invest in our future," High Speed Rail Authority executive Mehdi
Morshed said. "Despite the economic bad news, they are thinking
beyond today."

Not everyone is on board, a vote analysis shows.

The narrow victory was led by voters in areas where trains are
expected to arrive first -- San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles,
and Central Valley areas eager for the economic growth the trains
are predicted to bring.

But a majority in Sacramento and San Diego opposed the measure,
as did voters in El Dorado, Placer and outlying counties.

Sacramento and San Diego are scheduled to be part of a second-phase
expansion of high-speed rail, after an initial line is built between
the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

Rail advocates acknowledge bullet trains are unlikely to reach
Sacramento and San Diego for another 15 years, and not unless trains
on the initial segment earn enough money to finance expansion.

Morshed said his agency hopes to begin building medium-speed starter
lines between San Francisco and San Jose, and between Los Angeles and
Anaheim in the next few years.

Those lines get first priority, he said, because local agencies --
Caltrain in the Bay Area and Metrolink in Los Angeles -- signed
agreements to chip in money.

Ultimately, Tuesday's $10 billion bond measure is expected to pay
for less than one-quarter of the 800-mile system's cost. The rest of
the funds are expected to come from federal grants, local matching
funds and private-sector investors.

Morshed said he expects the full system to be done by 2025.

Opponents, lead by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, argue
the train plan is ill-conceived and point out the state has yet to
update its 8-year-old business plan, as required by law.

"It is mind-boggling, with the budget crisis, that people would vote
for this without there being a business plan," Jarvis group head
Jonathan Coupal said.

Bullet train campaign officials said the plan is due out Friday,
but it won't contain anything of note that hasn't already been made
public.

Train campaign officials ran $1 million worth of radio ads promoting
the system as more than just a transportation tool.

"We knew people were concerned about congestion, air pollution, about
oil dependence, and concerned about jobs," spokesman Greg Larsen
said. "The high speed train responds to each of those concerns."

Kevin Powers, 22, a recent UC Davis graduate, said he voted for the
rail system, citing environmental concerns among other reasons.

"State population is going to grow to 50 million," he said. "What
we have isn't going to work."

Wayne Steving, 65, of Rancho Murieta, voted against the train.

"It's too high of a cost at this time," he said. "We need it, but
we just don't have any money. We're broke."

High-speed rail agency executive Morshed said the state will now
seek federal funding to help on the initial segments, and will work
on securing right-of-way.