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Old Posted Jul 27, 2020, 8:18 PM
twoNeurons twoNeurons is offline
loafing in lotusland
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Lotusland
Posts: 6,020
Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila View Post
No, they cannot. Prop 1A (now part of state law) requires direct service from Los Angeles to San Francisco with a total travel time of 2h40m or less. A forced transfer to Caltrain would not be direct service, and would not meet the travel time requirement. If the state does not meet these requirements fully, it opens the project up to further lawsuits either in good faith (people who want faster trains) or in bad faith (people who want no train at all).

They could theoretically amend the law by putting the question back to the voters as another ballot initiative, but it's not likely voters would approve a worse-quality service, and it's really a locally-focused question that shouldn't be voted on state-wide. What does a person from Barstow or Long Beach know about Millbrae or nerdy transportation planning questions in SF?

In reality the 2h40m travel time is probably not realistic given the amount of money that is available... so CHSRA is planning for the 2h40m time, knowing that they probably won't be able to achieve that in practice. They will either meet the requirement on a technicality by running a single express train per day that is a red ball, clearing all other trains out of the way, or they will get the system built first and then ask for a change in the law to allow for slower travel times.
To be completely honest, the most useful train will likely be a direct train from downtown to downtown. It’s likely that that will also be the train that has the most number of passengers. Contrary to how many people think… Ridership is usually greatest between the two major population centres and Most of the trains really should be nonstop. I know that politically it does it make a lot of sense because the small towns and medium-size centres feel snubbed but the reality of it is most of the ridership will come from people going from San Francisco to Los Angeles direct.

If you go to Japan (and I know it’s a different country with different problems and challenges) out of 16 to 18 trains per hour only one of them makes every single stop 75% of trains only stop at major population centers… Like Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo on the original bullet train line. People who live in Bakersfield for example, likely will not use the train to go to LA as often as people from LA going to San Francisco.

The new Chou line under construction In Japan will likely have a direct train every 10 minutes or so with only one all stop train per hour.

High speed trains or more like short haul airplane routes than choo-choo trains 🚂
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