The project that started out as CAHSRA (California High Speed Rail Authority) has suffered some shortcomings. Among these was the Federal Government’s withdrawal of almost one Billion Dollars. This was also one of former California Governor Jerry Brown’s legacy projects. As a conservative, there were many issues on which I agreed with the former governor, such as his tight grip on spending our hard-earned tax dollars. The California Bullet Train to nowhere, however, was NOT one of them.
The problem was, it didn’t look like the empty suits in charge of CAHSRA, ever bothered to talk to anybody who already had such a system up and running. They could have spoken to the folks who run the TGV (Train Grande Vitesse) system of France. The TGV carries 100 million passengers per year and connects various large cities in France with Paris. My wife and I rode the TGV from the Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris at the Latin Quarter station in about 47 minutes.
They could also have chatted with the people at Trenitalia, the national railway company of Italy, which runs their high-speed or Alta Velocità train system named, Frecciarossa (Red Arrow) travelling at speeds of 360 kph or about 223 mph, that connects major cities in Italy. And BTW, this is the train my wife and I rode in 2008, from Naples to Rome in 57 minutes, in comfort like on a 747 Jet.
They could have approached the people who run Eurostar, with trains travelling at speeds up to 186 mph and will get you from London to Paris in three hours. Even smaller countries like Austria and Hungary are connected via Railjet trains which link Austrian cities with Budapest, Prague, Munich and Zurich. Your Railjet ride from Budapest to Vienna only takes 2 ½ hours. How could these small countries build a high-speed rail system, and California couldn’t? Was it planning and cooperation? CAHSRA’s management could have spoken with Chinese High-Speed-Rail management that runs Maglev (or magnetic Levitation) trains, at speed of up to 268 mph, and HSR-wheeled high-speed trains which have attained speeds of 303 mph. They could have asked our friends in Japan, at the Shinkansen high-speed rail system if they could help us out. See where I’m going with this? All these countries, some that we consider beneath us technologically, have left us at the Bullet-Train station in nowheres-ville.
The point of these references is that all these trains run on board-flat topography. They go through tunnels and roll up on elevated tracks, as the ones proposed on the CAHSRA line. Tunnels need to be bored, to keep the tracks level, however elevated sections of tracks have already been built, 50 to 60 feet high above ground. What do you think will happen to a train travelling at 200 mph on an elevated track, in the event of an earthquake?
Some tunneling needs to be done. A 13 ½ mile tunnel is needed through the undulating topography of Pacheco Pass. Experts from around the world guestimated a price tag of between $5.6 billion and $14.5 billion, to get the tunneling done, which is exacerbated by the treacherous makeup of this seismically-active region; quite a chunk out of the $65 Billion budget.
California voters approved the $9 billion Proposition 1A to begin construction of the initial leg of this convoluted plan, which promised to eventually run from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The Jan 06, 2015 groundbreaking ceremony, which took place in Fresno, was for the first 29-mile segment between Fresno and Madera, with an expected completion date of December 31, 2022. The initial operating segment between San Jose and Bakersfield, was expected in 2027. The completion of the San Francisco to Anaheim line was to materialize sometime in 2033.
Sacramento thought that this was a great idea. Jerry Brown believed that it would be his legacy. Alas, his original $33 billion dream turned into a $65 billion nightmare by the 2nd year of construction. The worst part of Jerry’s nightmare is, Governor Gavin reconfigured the whole project as the Central Valley Express (CVE). CAHSRA will not connect San Francisco to L.A., because, the Governor has so decreed. The Central Valley Express will probably still cost $65 billion or more. There are many miles of high-speed rail already laid and numerous elevated sections built. However, segments of tracks are not yet contiguous. Perhaps, not even all the real estate has yet been purchased. The completed CVE will give farm workers between Fresno and Bakersfield a quick ride home after 12 hours of working in the fields. But, will they be able to afford the ride. And of course, former Democrat senator Reid of Nevada will be disappointed that CAHSRA won’t fly suckers all the way to Las Vegas.
My question is: if all the money spent didn’t go to funding this chug-along project, where did it go? Did some of it find its way to fill potholes in our decrepit roadways and bridges? Did the incompetents in Sacramento spend some of that money on fixing reservoirs and maybe building new ones? I haven’t seen any movement in those regards. Where did the money go? Did some of it go line the pockets of Democrat politicians. I don’t believe Jerry Brown pocketed any of those funds, because I actually believe that he’s a rather honest individual, due in part to his early Jesuit school training. But all that money had to go somewhere. Maybe it all sunk in the muck of the Sacramento swamp? California used to be hailed as the technological capital of the world. So, how come we couldn’t even conjure up a high-speed rail system?
Last year, I gave a reasonable alternative that would improve California passenger transportation. We already have several passenger train lines. One can ride the California Zephyr all the way to Chicago, leaving from Emeryville. We have the Capitol Corridor line which runs from San Jose to Auburn. The Sunset Limited will get you from Los Angeles to New Orleans. The Coast Starlight will take you from Los Angeles to Seattle. All these lines run Diesel locomotives able to reach speeds of up to 110 mph. That’s reasonably fast. However, the problem is not the speed the locomotives could attain. The problem is, freight trains have priority on all rail lines, because they own the tracks.
More folks would ride trains in California, if they would arrive at their destinations on time. The solution appears simple: instead of wasting Billions more on that CVE, build dedicated lines for passenger trains, so they don’t get stuck behind the lumbering freight haulers. How about connecting new passenger lines to the already build high-speed rail line? US diesels can roll at about 110 mph. That’s a lot faster than having to follow freight haulers. The most important thing is to get passenger trains their own tracks, which would greatly speed up passenger transportation.
For a bullet-speed future, have CAHSRA form a partnership with neighboring states, and then design a more encompassing plan, that would connect multiple states via high-speed rail. Learn something from our European friends about cooperation with neighbors. That way, the cost is shared as well as design resources. The whole idea out of Sacramento was, to show the rest of the country, and maybe the world, that California can accomplish anything it wants. And, Sacramento blew it by putting in charge a band of incompetents with enormous egos.
The result? Millions of dollars wasted, out of OUR pockets!
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