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Calif. high speed rail nipped by U.S. House
Another expensive, money wasting pipe dream squashed!!
The California high speed rail project is the future. Denham is an idiot.
Lear jets and limousines…That’s why you never see these lawmakers oppose airport and highway projects.
Hey Jim, Your post sounds like a shout out to Ric Flair, being a child of the south I am sure you know who he is. If in government you can’t lead, just muddy the water so no one else can.
California High Speed rail is happening and it is happening now, because the equivalent freeway capacity/expansion for Central Valley/between LA/Bay Area/Sacramento is well into the same dollar figures or more. I got ten lanes of freeway near my house with no more room to give without a huge cost and further degrading of quality of life. Simply put, the state can’t afford the status quo and not to build an alternative transportation mode and expand transit with an expanding population, job growth and economy because of an idealogical mentality.
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The same reason why All Aboard Florida is happening and why Texas Railway between Dallas to Houston and then onto San Antonio/Austin will eventually happen. They all might happen in different ways but at two of the three states are seeing progress in a significant transportation system upgrade. The difference between California and Florida will be clear as day in a decade when California will have a clean, separated right of way with trains going twice as fast and at least three times the speed of freeway traffic.
If this is good for California, why did California keep its part of the agreement? No doubt this will be good for folks there, but THEY must show personal commitment too. Just saying,
Calif voted “yes” for HSR some time around 2008. They also had a price tag of about 40B at that the time ( l though it was just for the SF part of the line). If you ever driven in LA area during commute time , that saying of "LA is a great big parking lot "is some what true. As you come out of the hill from Grapevine into the LA basin you will see the smog , not fog (although it is not as bad as it used to be). Trains , bus , cars are becoming more electric but airplanes still have a way to go before they can carry large amount of passengers( carrying one or two passenger doesn’t count). City people want clean air and HSR is a move in that direction , one airplane (737) will use about 1000 Gallions of fuel to go from SF to LA.
@ANDREW D CHANDLER - I’m guessing they don’t have a lot of money. CA’s finances don’t have a reputation for being particularly good right now.
The real question is whether the Feds want to help CA get off its highway addiction, given that the Highway Trust Fund is bankrupt, has been for decades now, and that it’s a major drain on the taxpayer. The few billion the Feds will chip in to FLHSR may sound a lot, but the cost savings should be many times that.
Re my last comment: CAHSR, not FLHSR. D’oh! (Though what’s the chance that UP or BNSF would full an FEC and bail out the state with a “good enough” service if CAHSR does fail?)
Two CA residents have spoken with a clear and persuasive reasons for the CAHSR to continue forward. Mr. Harrison, you hit the point regarding the cost savings being many times over. The 1st TGV project from Paris to Lyon had a ROI of 15%, 3% over the required amount. Goes to show that well managed HSR projects prove themselves beyond expectations.
Short-sighted as usual. stick a fork in it, High-Speed rail is done.
Some pundits have tried to convince me, unsuccessfully, that people like Rep. Denham aren’t in the hip pocket of the highway, auto and oil interests. Keep 'em in their cars - even if, increasingly, they don’t want to be there.
The Federal Government heavily subsidizes both the airline and automobile industry. The Feds pay for the highways and the airports. Both use a lot of fuel which suggests that Denham must be in the pocket of Big Oil. High Speed Rail will only work if the people rise up and demand it. You know, WE THE PEOPLE. Will we? I don’t know.
We are quickly, through GOP efforts (or lack there of) going in the direction of third world nation except, for now, with the military!
If California has a problem they should solve it and live within the terms they agreed to. I’m sick of bailing out those that can’t live up to agreements that they made. And yes Federal money IS my money. It isn’t free.
Califonia has more pressing needs more then spending billions for this pie-in-the-sky boondoggle.Like the drought they are going thru right now & the people need for water.
another moron “PUBLIC” servant…
It seems to me the vast sum needed for the LA-SF line would be better used for 75 mi commuter lines out of each city & for NE corridor lines - all at 130-150 mph standard.
Scot Perry, come out to my neck of the woods and you find some odd things. For one, alafa growers in Southern California, one of the most water intensive crops, is grown so it can go shipping containers to the feed livestock in Asia. At the same time, you got a lot of people complaining about agriculture but have lush green lawns in the middle of the drought. Simple put, their is a lot of things that still to need happen for people to take the drought seriously.
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However, it is not either or, you can still build an infrastructure for a growing population, have a budget surplus, pay down debt and have a rainy day fund as California now does. But more importantly, their is a lot of water that still is misused by everyone.