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.
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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
That is a terrific idea! Hopefully everything works out and there aren’t any project ending complications.
Also, why can’t we get something like this in the Northeast? It’s the most populous area in the United States. Connect New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, D.C. and Boston. That would be absolutely amazing and I don’t see how it could cost much more than this, if all of those states contributed it could be done so easily.
So where are they going to put it?
A. Are they going to try to buy out the freight companies, and replace old track? Good luck with that. Freight companies won’t even let passenger trains have right-of-way over empty freight cars today. I can’t imagine they’d let you tear up their tracks, even if you were going to put down faster ones that they could use.
B. Or are they going to use Imminent Domain and steal privately-owned land to build it on? That’s going to be popular. Also when you take into account how many people across 400 miles might challenge you in court, this might not even be cheaper than option A.
C. Um, maybe you could tear up the interstate? Not a lot of options left…
A big reason we don’t have high-speed rail being laid down everywhere is because you can’t exactly go to a real estate agent and say “hi, I’d like to buy a piece of land 600 km long and 10 meters wide, what have you got?”. It works for the Japanese because with their population density, it’s required, and they know it, and they also have a culture of submitting to authority. People in LA would never put up with half the things they have on Tokyo trains, e.g., uniformed people whose job is to shove as many people as possible onto a train.
With the amount of money we are spending on wars, we could build many of these bullet trains!
@cervus
> If it’s a profitable venture, then private investors will flock to it.
It will be a profitable venture once you Americans get to pay “real” gas prices with “real” taxation - Europeans regulary play 8,80 USD for a gallon of gas.
This funds partially go to infrastructure development - for example the high-speed train network. In fact, for most metropolitan connections, using the more enviromental friendly german ICE is faster and cheaper than using the car. Both sides win.
Trains in France and other parts of Europe have been doing this for over 20 years, in japan you can get even faster trains, (not quite as old) but by 2030 - compleation time - this technology will be obsolete, if you want a green, high tech, fast train system there is really only maglev! Thants what the chinese are using in several new projects, but then again the US economy can’t really afford that at the moment!
Wsih Texas could get some high-speed rail connections. Actually, the whole of America for that matter. Even if they could connect DFW with Denver without having to go through Chicago - that’d be an improvement.
Especially in light of recent gas price jumps.
I wish California much luck!
From the FAQ on the California High Speed Rail Authority website.
“The cost to build the 800-mile system is estimated to be about $40 billion.”
AHAHAHA
This won’t be helpful until you can take your smart car along. No one wants to go to another city and be limited to cabs and “Shank’s mare”. A smart car is short enough to drive on and off a railroad car sideways.
Does anyone really believe this will reduce emissions at an even measurable amount ? I can tell you now, this thing will not be cost effective EVER. It’s a prestige project with no prestige since they’re 30 years behind Japan and Europe.
Finally! The airport from SF to LA insists that you take a train (BART) anyway. It’s would be much more convenient! I’m just sad it isn’t going to be completed sooner!