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Villaraigosa lost so we're all screwed with HSR.
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The other really interesting point is that NoCal trains will sleep overnight in Gilroy. There will be 4 revenue service trains between 6am and 7am that will serve Gilroy, San Jose, SFO, and SF Transbay. So it absolutely will be possible to commute between Gilroy and downtown SF using HSR instead of Caltrains (although the fare will likely be higher). Caltrains is planning limited stop service after electrification and its trains will operate at the same speed as HSR but there will be at minimum 5-6 stops versus just 2. A mirror operation will occur in Palmdale. So SoCal's trains will be stored overnight in Palmdale and shoot into LA and Anneheim starting at 6am with only one stop at Burbank Airport. So here we will really see commuting into DT LA enabled by HSR since there will be no competing service on the same track ala Caltrains. The thing I'm worried about with this system is that it's going to be so big-time with the daily schedule so jam-packed that a slight disruption will cause a wave that the schedule can't recover from. With time they'll be able to anticipate which trains should be double-length. The published schedule was very complicated so I couldn't figure it out but I would assume that if they send a double-length train out for the day it will be slotted for the bigger runs. What you don't want is a 1/4-full double-length train because the wear on the vehicles and the track is significant. My guess is that zero double-length trains will run between SF and Sacramento and between LA and Sacramento. |
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On another note, the same articles that stated that the platform lengths would be shortened also stated that the operating speeds would be dropped to 200mph. The 2018 business plan contradicts both of those points. These articles were from 2016, so my guess is that these decisions were reversed in the 2018 business plan versus the 2016 one. |
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The CAHSR Blog (http://www.cahsrblog.com) has a good analysis of the election results and the impact on California high-speed rail.
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Holy shit! CAHSRBlog is back! I had no idea!
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The other interesting feature of the timetable is that the express travel time between SF and LA and SJ and LA will be equal. I don't know of politicians got involved but basically the situation is that there will be no true express for the LA-bound trains that originate in San Jose. They will stop 2-3 times in the central valley and that will add enough time to where those two travel times will be virtually equal. But since all trains will stop in San Jose, the express trains between SF and LA will have a significantly faster SJ-LA run. Also, 30+ years from now, a second HSR mainline paralleling I-5 would be 30~ miles shorter but inevitably involve San Jose as a hub once again. San Jose's position can only get stronger as HSR grows, and SF real estate interests can't be liking that. |
July Aerials
There's a pretty solid construction update on their Flickr page. 28 aerial photos of most of the Package 1 construction.
July Aerials on Flickr |
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Do you have an allergic inability to say anything positive about this project? Also, you are completely wrong regarding the construction strategy. When political consensus is weak and funds limited, it absolutely makes the most sense to make real progress on the easiest and most obtainable segments, and for the CHSR right now, that means in the flat Central Valley. Starting out building ten mile long tunnels that most would never see would be strategically incompetent. People start to say wow when the skyscraper reaches twenty floors not when the caissons are being drilled in the basement, if you will. The sight of highly visible and tangible progress will propel further public and political support in a way that hidden work under a mountain will not.
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It would have been better to focus on inner city mass transit like subways, commuter rail, and light rail instead of an intercity train. I don't think high speed rail is going to do much to densify the inner cities. Most congestion in the cities are due to commuters and people who live in the city, not travellers from out of town.
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The mitigating goal of HSR in California is not to "densify" inner cities or alleviate intra-city congestion, it is to provide fast intercity travel that will alleviate highway and airport expansion requirements and create economic stimulation through sustainable connectivity to California's population centers and to bring us into the goddamn 21st CENTURY!
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Seriously! Third world countries have HSR now!
Here locally, there were many naysayers with the SMART train. We built it, it’s a success, and now all the naysayers have completely disappeared! (And now we are expanding it!) |
I went to CA. I traveled all the Californian coast from SF to LA. Some of their highways are super wide. Especially when you drive by LA. The widest I've seen in my life. I even forget the number of lanes...
It clearly doesn't work as a standalone solution. You still get stuck in traffic over there, no matter how huge their highways are. Over here, we've been advertising competition between any transit means. Cars, buses, trams, trains, planes... We've been leaving ideology behind and just would pick the most efficient. I think that will work for us all. I think what BrownTown has basically complaining about is the cost of the workforce in the US. Well, I wish the French workers had the same purchasing power as the American ones. Our unions here have done a poor job in defending workers' interests. They've been too busy at politics and ideology, serving their so-called leftist ideals and forgetting about purchasing power on the ground. That's silly, ineffective. Now many workers are pissed and vote for the retarded far right in this country. It seems to me we could find some very great system by mixing some Fr and US principles. More competition, and higher purchasing power. |
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There are myriad interim solutions to complement IOS services (ie. Bakersfield-Madera using the San Joaquin at the N and S ends of the system to reach Stockton/Oakland and LA, for one example). There is a State Rail plan in process, as well as significant improvements to the major regional railways (ie. Caltrain, Metrolink) that again allow some piggybacking. Essentially, the Authority has enough cash on hand to build the IOS and to -- potentially, although most indications are that they should be able to -- get to San Jose. In the meantime, they can actually begin generating revenue (and profit) and tapping into that to access financing to continue construction and expansion. This is virtually the method by which all of these types of networks are rolled out -- whether by private financing or public funding. Somehow, when All Aboard does it, it's some miraculous thing. When CAHSRA does it, it's foolish :whistle: |
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The 5 freeway just south of downtown is only 3 lanes in each direction, that it until a massive project finished up. It is a huge bottleneck and soon that'll finally be upgraded to today's standards. The cost to build a freeway in L.A. increased 6 times from 1960 to 1980. http://www.trbimg.com/img-54504196/t...y-freeways/720 L.A. Times graphic |
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2. Even if it did generate a profit that meager earnings would take decades or more to raise enough money to even think about building the most expensive parts of the system. 3. No, other countries don't ave 50+ year plans for building a single rail line; they just build it. If CAHSR were in China it would have been operating end to end for years at this point. Quote:
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The Central Valley has roughly the same population as the 15th biggest of our 50 United States. |
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Rail and transit projects always get 100x more scrutiny than highway and airport projects. |
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I have zero issue with the Feds giving money out fairly for cities to expand their transit systems. I've made this point endlessly but the HSR in California will not be a commuter train to relieve housing pressure in SF. It wont be used by anyone but the better-off. And they will use it just as a substitute to flying. |
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California got a ton of money for HSR out of that so-called "stimulus package", including rail money that was allocated to Wisconsin and my home state of Ohio. When Kasich (and fellow tea partier Scott Walker) was elected in 2010 he rejected that Obama stumulus money for a new rail service in Ohio and the FRA re-allocated most of the returned $400 million to California. |
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And since you love airplanes so much, you will be happy to hear that CAHSR will serve SFO. So people in Fresno, Bakersfield, etc., will be able to take a 60-minute train ride to SFO and they fly away to Japan or Australia or wherever instead of having to drive there. It'll take an hour to get to LAX from LA Union Station on light rail, but at least that will become an option for the first time. |
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2. No...even by their most conservative ridership estimates, they can fully finance the rest of the system, because any credit they attempt to access will be based on the potential future ridership, not current. Or are you really saying that the Authority wouldn't be able to demonstrate the gains from completing the system to LA? 3. It isn't 50 years. It's been under construction for 3-4 years at this point... Timelines are fungible; they depend on financing schedules and public funding. China took more than 30-40 years to complete the Beijing-Shanghai line: They just planned and phased the entire national network in bits and pieces to complete these national lines. None of the major N-S, E-W corridors were completed in anything like 5 years. Quote:
You're saying that a statewide, inter-city system will only be used by...rich people? As opposed to, what, the bulk of business travelers currently shuttling between LAX/SFO? Caltrain? Private/corporate bus shuttles? Quote:
Nothing indicates fares being anywhere near $1500. |
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A passenger is on a HSR train for much less time to cover the same distance. So staffing costs are much lower (although maintenance and electricity costs are likely much higher). The same train and same crew can make several cross-state trips per day whereas a traditional passenger train can hardly make it from LA to SF and back in 24 hours due to track conditions. |
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Another factor ignored by the haters is the complication involved in acquiring the trains because of Made in USA stipulations from the federal grants. Getting Florida and Texas to build their systems to the same specs would help justify establishment of a HSR train and parts industry in the United States. Instead, California and Texas are almost certain to buy their trains from overseas but then have compatibility problems with the USA parts. Where I live we have had chronic trouble with Spanish-made CAF vehicles that were outfitted with American parts that don't quite match the manufacturer specs. |
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I took Amtrak two years ago from Ohio to Baltimore for like $200 round-trip. Yes, I bought the ticket in advance. You can get an advance Greyhound ticket from here to California for a similar sum. When I rode the TGV in France I didn't spend a lot of time worrying about what sort of people were on or not on the train. I do recall a bunch of school kids boarding at one point. |
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And yes. Poor and lower middle class people either don't travel or use a car or bus. |
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2. The fact they have spent so little money is an example of how terrible this project is, not how great it is. They're progressing at a snails pace which is the only reason so "little" money has been spent. 3. The "doomsday" scenarios you speak of are the projects own projections. Any any fools knows if they say 85 Billion then it's 100 Billion at a minimum. All big infrastructure projects blow their budgets out like this, only a fool would think CAHSR would be an exception (especially after all the cost increases so far). 4. The only reason the price hasn't been completely blown out is because they keep scaling back the scope of the project. They've already drastically reduced the speed of the overall system and the length of the trains it can handle. It's comparing apples to oranges to look at the original estimate and the current proposed system. Quote:
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There have been numerous projects from across the country that have gone over budget. A few were slightly over budget and this can be possibly excused as incorrect estimation issues or minor budget issues possibly due to weather delays. There are other projects that were grossly over budget to the point where either the estimates were severely under actual costs to get public support. Most of the time though, the estimates are correct and as the project is under way, it is the design changes and features that are added that start to increase the costs. Sadly, I think most Project Managers over the large projects come to rely on the contractors and their PM's to pass upward the budget impacts to change requests. This in turn leads many of the changes to go to the Contractors directly rather than through the overall Project Manager, who is in charge of the overall budget for the project. The Contractors just think about the money and do the work, bill the project and boom, over budget even if it wasn't fully approved because it was requested by the people that hired the Project Manager. With CAHSR, what we are seeing is that the contractors have been told who to listen to, the overall Project Manager, not local politicians or anyone else with regards to special projects. This is keeping the overall costs down on the project. This is also why the speed of the project seems to be going slower, bids are able to be kept lower as the number of workers needed is lower. The same for the amount of concrete, steel, equipment, and so forth. The various contractors working on the project don't end up competing against each other for the items they are all needing. So, while it may take potentially 2 years longer (estimated) doing it the slow and steady way, it can potentially save the project $3-$5 Billion (estimated) that can be used elsewhere. Scaling back the scope is showing that the Project Manager is doing what they are supposed to be doing. Projects are game of give and take. You have a budget and a set of requirements. When someone comes in with a change request the Project Manager looks at the change, evaluates it and then gets feedback from the contractors about how it would impact the budget and timelines. They then present the information back in the form of a risk assessment. This gives the person requesting the change a chance to withdraw the request, change the budget, or change the requirements. In this case, they felt going with shorter stations was worth the trade off. I guess the presumption is that the longer stations will not be needed until many years after opening and they will be able to extend the stations before they are needed. I think they are also planning on running smaller train sets initially and gradually adding cars as ridership increases. The idea here is that airlines don't start flying 400 seat planes between locations when estimates show only 20 people will fly between the cities daily. They start smaller and ramp up as passengers increase. The same with highways, and other forms of transit, including personal vehicles. Overall, I just think it is counter productive to complain about projects that go vastly over budget and then talk about the scope scaling back when that shows that the budget is actually being watched closely and the project isn't scaling back, just the station size. One thing to remember, the project is the first high speed rail line to be built from the ground up in North America. Once the initial segment is completed, it will be able to be studied by many other States and groups looking at bring HSR to their region. They will be able to see what worked and what didn't and can learn from what California has done. |
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The project always from the beginning was going to have 200-220mph operation limited to the central stretch between Gilroy and Burbank Airport. This is how the TGV and most other HSR systems operate around the world...they enter cities on tracks that they share with conventional passenger trains. What proposal for 200mph HSR operations ever existed for the approach to San Francisco? For the LA approach? For the line between LA and San Diego? The 10 year-old language of Proposition 1A explicitly says otherwise. What's more, the time savings from boosting Burbank to LA Union to a brief spurt of 200mph would be *maybe* 5 minutes. Billions to save 5 minutes. Up north, tens and tens of billions to shorten the Gilroy-SF stretch by 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, the stations are still being designed for 1400-foot platforms. Of course they're not going to operate 1200-foot, 1,000-seat double trainsets on the IOS and probably not operate them until the full SF-LA connection is in place. There is no reason to physically build the full platforms until double trainsets are in testing. |
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A flight, is cheaper and about 6 hours. |
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Eurostar is a fairly expensive one, I guess the fact it has a big tunnel under the sea increases costs but these are the one way London-Paris fares on the website at the moment. Travel today £191 ($249) Travel on Monday (4 days in advance) £101 ($132) Travel on Thursday September 20 (3 weeks in advance) £84 ($110) Travel on Thursday October 4 (5 weeks in advance) £44 ($57) which is the cheapest one way ticket. Return tickets start at £58 ($76) If you turn up at the airport and ask for a ticket on the next plane you will also pay more than booking it in advance most of the time. |
Perhaps more representative are Thalys tickets,, these are best prices one way from Cologne to Brussels
Travel today €66 ($77) Travel Monday (4 days in advance) €54 ($63) Travel on Thursday September 20 (3 weeks in advance) €28 ($33) Travel on Thursday October 4 (5 weeks in advance) €33 ($39) |
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Bakersfield is 113 miles away from Los Angeles, which is more representive of the Cologne to Brussels distance and what those fares listed would be than all the way from LA to SF. I don’t mind the fare comparisons, but at least try to match distances slightly more closer than was done here. While I’ll admit distance travel isn’t the only component in setting train fares, it certainly is a significant one to consider. |
I hope this project is not all or nothing. In other words, trains will be able to take advantage of the first completed section.
A few years ago, I took the train from Prague to Berlin. The portion of route between Dresden and near Berlin was designed for high speed. The fact that this portion of the track was designed for high speed allowed the full trip time to be reduced, maybe not to the degree as if the whole route was designed for high speed trains, but better than if the train had to run 60 mph the whole way. Is this the plan in California? Will it be possible to use the first HSR portion completed to speed up overall trip times between SF and LA? |
Just throwing this out there but is there reason to believe there is definitive knowledge that a fare is always tethered to distance? Would the the fare really be 2.9 times more $ because the distance is 2.9 times longer? I'm not convinced it does or will work like that. I would suspect the fare economics could be more similar to what we are all familiar with while shopping for widgets.
Single widget costs x 2 widgets costs 1.7x 4 widgets costs 3x 12 widgets costs 8x and so forth... In most retail cases of like consumer items, there is a value in bulk. No one expects a 12 pack of widgets to cost the same as 12 individual widgets. The value is in bundling. Is there any reason to think fares based on mileage could use a similar base + distance (diminishing cost per increased route mile) model? Obviously I'm not economist so I'm sure there is probably a specific term for this. Anyways, I suspect CHSR fares will be much more reasonable than all the doubt peddling naysayers are freaking out over. |
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Also, work on the Caltrans electrification has technically begun, so HSR trains might terminate at 4th & King before the connection to Transbay is built. |
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