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Originally Posted by Busy Bee
I genuinely don't want to poop on progress but the Peninsula investment as currently being pursued has the potential to be a colossally shortsighted endeavor. The CHSRA should have insisted on a 4-track Caltrain/HSR row with full grade separation top to bottom. For the life of me I don't know how they are going to accommodate 12 HSR trains/hour through 2-track stations at any reasonable speed. It just seems like all these millions will likely be wasted when they realize that you can't pull off proper operation of Caltrain and HSR without a row to facilitate it which includes dedicated tracks bypassing stations and zero potential interaction w/ people or vehicles.
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Would have tied the whole thing up in lawsuits for years. Once it gets running, if it's a success, the two tracks can be turned into 4 when/if there's the political support.
Meanwhile, CalTrain itself is on life support:
Quote:
Caltrain might have to shut down after supervisors scuttle sales tax measure
Rachel Swan
July 14, 2020 Updated: July 15, 2020 6:49 p.m.
Caltrain, faced with financial ruin as it runs a near-empty commuter rail line along the Peninsula, may have to shut down altogether.
Officials made the grim prediction Tuesday after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declined to introduce a 1/8-cent sales tax measure for the November ballot — a vital lifeline that would have generated $100 million a year. It needed approval from four transit boards and Boards of Supervisors in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. By opting not to support the measure, the San Francisco supervisors effectively scuttled it.
Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Shamann Walton had previously voiced opposition to Caltrain’s governance structure, saying they want to separate the rail line from the San Mateo County Transit District, which manages and operates the rail system for a three-county Joint Powers Board. They say the two other counties served by Caltrain, San Francisco and Santa Clara, should have more control of its leadership and operations.
“It’s taxation without representation,” Peskin said Tuesday, adding that he disagrees with regressive sales taxes. He and Walton committed to “find a policy or legislative solution by next year,” possibly in the form of a state bill . . . .
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https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/...s-15408435.php
One assumes they'll resolve this. The carmagedden apocalypse that would occur if all peninsula commuters had to drive into the city is unthinkable and these 2 liberal Democrats surely can't want that. But even if the politics gets ironed out, the damage being done by COVID is severe.