Bullet train headed to San Jose first (Los Angeles, San Diego: rent, how much)

[calicoastal]

High speed rail to Diridon should be completed around the same time as BART to Diridon. It will be a 40 minute ride from Madera to San Jose, not much longer than Walnut Creek to SF on BART. And this will speed up Caltrain grade separations and electrification. Great news for the Bay Area, in particular the South Bay and Peninsula.

California bullet train headed first to San Jose -- a big Bay Area win - San Jose Mercury News

[neutrino78x]

I don't know, man. I get around with public transit because I make 11.25/hr and therefore can't afford a car. Also I am 38 and I registered Democrat at 18 and have only voted for Democrats at the federal level.

But I voted against the High Speed Rail.

I felt like the state could not afford it, and it would not be managed well, and its average speed would not be what was promised. It would also have too many stops.

Just look at light rail here in silicon valley: the parts that are grade separated have too many stops, and stupidly, part of it is NOT grade separated and runs where pedestrians are encouraged to walk!

In theory I think HSR is probably a good idea, although I would prefer elevated monorail using magnetic levitation. But in practice the HSR is going to be terrible.

I'll probably use it though, at some point.

I do agree that it is good for Caltrain, and it will probably cause Caltrain to be made electric. They should have made Caltrain electric 50 years ago, though.

[neutrino78x]

Furthermore, I think it is stupid that HSR would go to SF. It should go to either San Jose or Oakland, not both. Probably San Jose because that is the largest city in the Bay Area. There's no point for it to go to SF because we already have Caltrain to go there.

I would suggest these stops for HSR:

- Sacramento
- San Jose
- Fresno
- Los Angeles
- San Diego

That's it. You don't need 100 stops. Just use local transit to connect to those stops.

[FioSJ]

I suspect that we'll get it built from Fresno to SJ relatively quickly. That's the easiest stretch.
Then the peninsula Nimbys will fight its extension to SF and HSR will just terminate at SJ.
Without that last leg to SF the ridership numbers will be weaker and HSR will become a half useful line connecting Central Valley to SJ. At least SJ will get it's benefit from the system. So good for us !

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Furthermore, I think it is stupid that HSR would go to SF. It should go to either San Jose or Oakland, not both. Probably San Jose because that is the largest city in the Bay Area. There's no point for it to go to SF because we already have Caltrain to go there.

I would suggest these stops for HSR:

- Sacramento
- San Jose
- Fresno
- Los Angeles
- San Diego

That's it. You don't need 100 stops. Just use local transit to connect to those stops.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Furthermore, I think it is stupid that HSR would go to SF. It should go to either San Jose or Oakland, not both. Probably San Jose because that is the largest city in the Bay Area. There's no point for it to go to SF because we already have Caltrain to go there.

I would suggest these stops for HSR:

- Sacramento
- San Jose
- Fresno
- Los Angeles
- San Diego

That's it. You don't need 100 stops. Just use local transit to connect to those stops.

I think it should go to SJ first, and then the Caltrain corridor should be improved over time to where the HSR can run on it (at higher speeds than the ~80 mph limit on that corridor (say 110 mph?), but not full >200 mph). This includes (obviously) electrifying the line fully, removing all grade separations (this should have been done decades ago anyway!), building more passing tracks (ideally it would be 4 tracks up the peninsula, but we have enough people fighting this that it won't happen that way immediately), and update the stations/stops that will handle HSR (I imagine just Palo Alto and Milbrae need major updates - San Francisco is building a new transit terminal, and SJ's diridon is pretty good already (but could definitely be updated)).

The problem will come from how much fight peninsula towns will put up. I suspect over time, as HSR is built and comes online (and as the entire Bay Area starts to densify more), resistance to it will weaken and expansions/improvements to this corridor will become easier to implement.

This isn't meant as a slight to SJ, but I think the line has to connect to SF. Although there is a direct connection with Caltrain, most people won't want to get off the train to go to SF. I think it has to go to SF, at least eventually.

I'd love to see the capital corridor become a HSR line one day, as well. Would be great to have multiple options for getting in/out of the Bay Area on HSR.

But I agree there should be less stops. Or at least run multiple express HSR trains a day that only stop maybe once between LA and SJ.

[bobby_guz_man]

Man...who woulda thunk that the first big city in the United States of America to get HSR would be....San freakin Jose?

LOL, hilarious!

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by HockeyMac18

This isn't meant as a slight to SJ, but I think the line has to connect to SF. Although there is a direct connection with Caltrain, most people won't want to get off the train to go to SF. I think it has to go to SF, at least eventually.

I don't think it is needed at all. It would be a two minute walk from the HSR track to the Caltrain track. People already transfer from Light Rail to Caltrain at San Jose Diridon. It is no different from transferring from Caltrain to BART at Milbrae. Soon they will transfer from Caltrain or light rail to BART. Although I think BART is a waste of money. They should simply make existing tracks between San Jose and Oakland electric and call it BART.

But I agree there should be less stops. Or at least run multiple express HSR trains a day that only stop maybe once between LA and SJ.

Yep. The most they should do is just connect the ten largest cities. But I think it already has like five stops just between San Diego and Los Angeles! :-O

[Wintermomma]

I sure hope they don't count it as an early failure and halt progress considering it is going SJ to Bakersfield. I mean, really...how popular could this possibly be?

[Flovis]

Originally Posted by Wintermomma

I sure hope they don't count it as an early failure and halt progress considering it is going SJ to Bakersfield. I mean, really...how popular could this possibly be?

the people in hanford and fresno are going to be happy to have fast silicon valley access.
the people in gilroy are going to be happy to have quicker sf/palo alto access
it'll get enough use ;p

hsr is going to come in 3 big stages this is just the first.
bakersfield to la/anaheim is #2
la-sd, sac to fresno will be the last stages

[Ruth4Truth]

Its actually happening? does this mean that now people will be able to live in Fresno and commute to SJ for tech jobs? Watch the high rent scourge hit Fresno and elsewhere in the valley.