Newsom scaling back high speed rail project (Bakersfield: licenses, bill)

[ikoolu]

it was a cluster *&^%from the start - dumbass voters with no brains voted for this stupid idea -

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by TheseGoTo11

Try Amtrak between Boston and DC, and you'll be crying.

LA-SF is 1.5x the distance between NY-DC and that's before dealing with getting over the mountains or across the Bay. It's closer to Boston-Philly, which most people fly, not fun to sit on the train that long, even on the Acela.

Man, I just looked it up on Google Maps. Boston to Philadelphia is 308 miles and would take 5 hours and 13 minutes to drive. But Amtrak ALSO takes 5 hours!!!! what???

The Acela Express from Boston to Philadelphia is listed on the Amtrak web site as taking 5 hours and 3 minutes!!! All that investment in technology to save 10 minutes versus driving?????

Same thing with Boston to Washington. 7 hours driving, 7 hours on the train. Why did they build that thing if it only saves 10 minutes??

See that's why I voted against the HSR. A good idea in theory. But it needs to be fast enough to be comparable TO FLYING....not just faster than a car. And knowing the state, it won't be faster than a car, lol.

Maximum speed of 200 doesn't help if your average speed is 50. The AVERAGE speed needs to be about 200, at least. Preferably 400 (although 400 is more plausible with maglev than TGV...but maglev is more expensive because the magnets have to be cooled with liquid nitrogen).

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by ikoolu

it was a cluster *&^%from the start - dumbass voters with no brains voted for this stupid idea -

It's a good idea if done right. But I voted no because I didn't think the state would do it right. And they haven't, so far. lol.

[neutrino78x]

At least Virgin Trains saves you an hour vs driving between London and Manchester. I would say that's close to the minimum acceptable difference. Although really if you're going to build "HIGH SPEED rail" it should take no more than 30% of the time it takes for a car to get from a given city to another given city.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by ikoolu

it was a cluster *&^%from the start - dumbass voters with no brains voted for this stupid idea -

But, but CA has to take the lead, even if it won't work.

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by TheseGoTo11

I fly between LA and SF 2-3x/month.

I typically go and in and out of Burbank and arrive there, or in Oakland on this end, 45 mins before departure. There are 16 flights/day each way just between Oakland and Burbank, never mind all the other airports, and if I book just a little bit in advance, I rarely pay more than $100 each way. No way a $77 billion train could compete with this.

Add in flight points, business expense deductions, etc, and flying is pretty dirt cheap, and much, much faster.

[CaliRestoration]

Trump terminates remainder of HSR Federal Grant

Trump just terminated the last billion of the Federal HSR grant officially today.

[JGC97]

How much of the 2.5 billion already given has the state used for the current construction? And if the original plan has been scrapped and this (current plan) is going to be a smaller segment of the rail, does the federal government have the right to ask for it back?

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Man, I just looked it up on Google Maps. Boston to Philadelphia is 308 miles and would take 5 hours and 13 minutes to drive. But Amtrak ALSO takes 5 hours!!!! what???

The Acela Express from Boston to Philadelphia is listed on the Amtrak web site as taking 5 hours and 3 minutes!!! All that investment in technology to save 10 minutes versus driving?????

Same thing with Boston to Washington. 7 hours driving, 7 hours on the train. Why did they build that thing if it only saves 10 minutes??

See that's why I voted against the HSR. A good idea in theory. But it needs to be fast enough to be comparable TO FLYING....not just faster than a car. And knowing the state, it won't be faster than a car, lol.

Maximum speed of 200 doesn't help if your average speed is 50. The AVERAGE speed needs to be about 200, at least. Preferably 400 (although 400 is more plausible with maglev than TGV...but maglev is more expensive because the magnets have to be cooled with liquid nitrogen).

You are correct about the Boston-NYC part, and that is because most of that part isn't HSR. It's all basically old track with really low speed limits. I don't really consider the Amtrak a great option north of NYC both because it's slow and because driving to Boston isn't that bad once you get out of NYC. Even if 95 is slow, you can take 84 to 91, you can take the Merritt Pkwy through CT, theres all sorts of alternate routes.

But on NY-DC the Acela is heaven compared to any other mode between the two. A good chunk of this part of the track is actually HSR and it's much faster. The Acela is all business class and ridiculously comfortable. It can be expensive, but definitely not worse than a flight. I've found $100 tickets round trip before during off periods. Plus the drive between DC and NYC is far worse - there's really only one good way to drive between the two and it's normally various levels of unpleasant. That drive has taken me 7 hours once, and that was ironically the last time I did it.

I'm interested to see how Texas does with the upcoming Houston-Dallas line. It's going to be private, so it'll be a good case study into whether that's a potentially better solution. It also has an added benefit of being 250 miles of basically flat land instead of having to deal with all the terrain California has. I'm skeptical that it will get anywhere close to ridership estimates and don't see how they can make it work financially, but it ain't my money. Right now, looks like its biggest potential impediment might be holding off the revolt of rural Texas landowners against eminent domain.

California had a lot of challenges with this project and I'm surprised it took that long to pull the plug to be honest. Ambitious, but just too expensive.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

Trump terminates remainder of HSR Federal Grant

Trump just terminated the last billion of the Federal HSR grant officially today.

The State has not lived up to their part of the contract. The grant money is based on the state completing the project. The Feds have every right to cancel the remainder of the grant and ask for the 2.5 billion that the Feds have given the state back.