I’m sure this is already familiar to most of you and has been discussed here before. However, I read the following story off the ticker for the first time this morning about the upcoming Novemeber issue on the CA ballot:
For high-speed travel: Would extra care and precautions need to be taken about laying track (vs. track laid for freight and commuter rail travel) in an area renown for it’s earthquake activity? I know that Japan has had high-speed travel for years in their small country and would be familiar with this sort of thing already.
At over 200 MPH, that sure would make traveling/commuting between LA and San Francisco a more relaxing ~2-3 excursion vs. 8 hours by car.
Tom, Japan isn’t what I’d call small. The Japanese archipelago extends 3,008 km (1,869 mi) NE–SW and 1,645 km (1,022 mi) SE–NW and has a total coastline of 29,751 km (18,486 mi). The total area of Japan is 377,835 sq km (145,883 sq mi).
The Shinkansen have a variety of systems to deal with earthquakes, the basic idea being to detect the initial tremors and bring all trains to a stand very quickly. However, there was a derailment in 2004 on the Joetsu Shinkansen caused by the Niigata earthquake. This was the first ever derailment of a Shinkansen train in over 40 years of operation.
Well if I am not mistaken the ballot proposal is to approve the funds to “study” the idea. California leads the country in environmental issues. They don’t want refineries, they don’t want industry yet they won’t get out of their cars and they have a bankrupt state. Throw in the banking mess and the fact that the route follows the San Andreas fault for 400 miles and that makes the odds pretty low anyone alive today will ever live to see it because they willl never get the funding necessary.
Actually the amount represents California’s contribution to the project start-up, the balance of the funds to come the Federal Gov’t and private sources.
Oh good. 9 billion for a start up! Where do I get in line to pony up more money after bailing out the financial markets for a state transit system that I get no return on investment? Hate to tell you but the feds and the banks don’t have it either. If California really wants it they should pay for the whole thing not me.