Gavin Newsom calls SF-to-LA high-speed rail unrealistic, pushes for route from Bakersfield to Merced

Well considering you could fit the entire landmass of Japan into California and still have 30,000 sq. mi. left over but Japan has a population density THREE TIMES that of California, it is at least viable. I've ridden the high trains in Japan, ROK, and the PRC. They are fantastic. Even in China (which is mostly a garbage dump), the trains are so clean you can eat off the floor. Of course they were built by the French...

 

Hey don't get me wrong, European trains are great. But they don't have vast expanses of empty land like we do in the Southwest and Great Plains. No way I'm taking a train from LA to New York... But London to Paris? Frankfurt to Vienna? Amsterdam to Berlin? Yeah, makes sense.

Actually, I'm a big train buff... I've always wanted to ride the Trans-Siberian. Some day I will.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...high-speed-rail-plan-bullet-train/2861594002/

 

When i rode the German trains, perhaps half a dozen times in all, they were very on time. As to high speed, can't recall any trip made at high speeds. But since the Autobahn was a first class highway, able to handle super high speed cars, I suppose the rails could be boosted to also handle high speed. The punctuality of the German trains was magnificent. Doubt that would be the case in CA.

 

Actually I would think the coastal route would be much more difficult to build. I doubt it could be placed on top of the existing rail lines that run up the coast. Environmental impact, having to build all those overhead lines, major tunneling through the Central Coast. Seems going through the Central Valley would be the smart play... Once over the Grapevine it's basically flat to San Jose... Land is cheap. Actually you could literally just follow the California Aqueduct right to Sacramento then turn left.

 

The high speed trains in Asia are really fantastic. Extremely comfortable, always on time, even in China where nothing is on time! I've ridden in Japan, ROK, and PRC. Beijing-Shanghai is like LA-Portland in distance. Takes five hours and is always on time TO THE MINUTE, costs about $80 one way (heavily subsidized of course). A flight is two-1/2 hours, but very often late or cancelled altogether (as are many domestic flights out of BJ due to military traffic), and at least three to four times more expensive as it's a high-demand route. Add an hour to get to the airport and an hour in security, and you're really better off taking the train. Plus when you get off the train in Shanghai at Honquiao Station you literally walk across the corridor to the subway and you're in Pudong (downtown) in 30 minutes. It's a brilliant system.

 

That makes a lot more sense.

Actually by this time, one might think with our hi tech, we could move passengers onto airplanes much faster.

 

The route is not that path. They go up highway 99. But the 101 route is not smart at all.

 

Why not? Improve the tracks of course.
There already exist a RxR Right of Way.
It was the route favored by foreign consultants.

 

Get real. The United States of America is a second rate country that is in decline.

 

and yet you need far less people to guard a wall that has camera's and all sorts of electronic surveillance then guard a open border with the same tech, the wall would slow some of them down and stop others from attempting to enter allowing you to do the same or better work with less then half the required people today


in other words building the wall would save you money longterm since you wil eventually recuperate part or all of it
especially since benefits and pay tends to increase over time and the wall will be build and finished now with only basic maintenance required to keep it going for a very long time(if you build it right atleast)

 

sure that makes it so much better doenst it
so what do you have to show for it for 5.4 billion dollar waisted ?

 

And to draw the crowds, you just need the right hook.

MAKE MEXICO GREAT AGAIN: Mexico introduces all-you-can-drink tequila train called ‘Jose Cuervo Express.’

 

Only because the Democrats controlled the country through the Obama years.

 

A handful of overpasses to no where.