California Building 220 MPH High-Speed Train from San Francisco to LA
Imagine a high-speed rail line that could get you from San Francisco to LA in 2 hours and 40 minutes.
That dream appears to be coming true, thanks to work by the California High-Speed Rail Authority. After getting a green light by State environmental impact assessors, they’ve begun implementation of an 800-mile bullet-train system that will connect Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Orange County and San Diego. Trains traveling at 220 mph on the systems are forecast to carry up to 100 million passengers per year by 2030.
While 2030 is a long way off, at least things are moving in the right direction. Having a high-speed rail system connecting (eventually) the length of the West coast is a good idea for a number of reasons, including greenhouse-gas emissions reductions, improving public transportation and reducing congestion, and creating half a million new jobs. While our aging standby Amtrak is still around (believe it or not) and bearable for short distances, it’s more expensive and takes twice as much time to travel the same distance when compared to driving (non-California example: 15 hours from Portland, OR to San Francisco).
The State will have a bond measure of $9.95 billion on the November 2008 ballot, which requires a simple majority vote for approval. The measure allocates $9 billion for the high-speed rail system and $950 million for improvements to other rail services that connect to the high-speed service.
For more information, see the website of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.
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This story was also reported at EcoLocalizer: A Train as Fast as a Plane: The Plan for High-Speed Rail in California Moves Forward
Photo Credit: NC3D, provided by the California High Speed Rail Authority
We should have trains coast to coast. For the cost of the misadventure in Iraq we could have been there.
@Koowan
You probably don’t know the history of the rail system in the Bay Area/California in general. The rail system was flourishing here until the car, gas and rubber (ie tire) conglomerates bought up the aging rail system and dismantled it; thus began the car culture in California. Dig up any major street in San Francisco and you’ll see remnants of railroad tracks. If it was at least maintained an updated, we would have had this “bullet train” long before Japan did. The airlines did not kill the rail system, it was dead long before air travel bacame mainstream.
Of course it would be profitable. A lot of people are still afraid of flying. Besides, with all the TSA restrictions and the sardine can they call coach these days, I’m sure these trains will be more comfortable.
Forget the cost. Californians overspend on other stuff anyway. Anybody living in the Bay area knows about the “Bay Bridge Saga”. Might as well spend the money on “crap” something that will eventually benefit the entire state.
@Daniel
Yes, the west coast is not just California but this would be as good a place for this to start as any :).
How about this: imagine commercial jet service which could fly between LA and San Francisco in less than half the time?
I totally don’t understand the financial rationale of this project.
2030!? Are you kidding me? Japan has had this trains since 1964!!!
Those of you thinking “why haven’t we done this sooner?” and wonder why Japan and Europe has this and we don’t, I have two words for you:
Population density.
Japan has about 5x our population packed into about the same land area. Europe is also much more densely packed.
Why can’t private industry foot the bill? Why bother me with my tax dollars to build this thing, when the state can’t even afford its education budget? It’s not just the construction costs. The track will cost money to maintain. If it’s a profitable venture, then private investors will flock to it. Otherwise, it’s just another government boondoggle that will end up costing more than Boston’s Big Dig.
[...] California is building a bullet train!? Finally! Took long enough. [...]
One word:
Earthquake.
This would be great! Short flights save only an an hour or two longer than driving when you add the time preflight.
Somrthing like this was talked about between Las Vegas and Los angeles a few years ago. This seems to be slightly more sustainable. I think.
This will certainly cost 2 - 10x the estimate (Government math) Remember the optimism of people writing the study. The government tendency to turn this into a giant subsidy for Freight rail is obvious but, considering rail is “greener” it still might be advantageous. Though 90b Dollars would be fairly close to the annual budget amount.
America used to invest in impressive infrastructure technology.
@koowan I seriously doubt the populations of LA and San Francisco will “shift” any time soon. This should have been built in the ’80s!
Good, anyone who thinks this is going to go way south or cost way to much is flat our wrong. This will most likely be managed by a foreign company with lots of experience. Trains are 100+ years old this isn’t rocket science.