Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
For most intents and purposes, the HSR project ends at Diridon except for a yard in Brisbane.
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That's a good way of putting it. San Francisco is getting the short end of the stick. There's no way to avoid that fact without building the second Transbay tube and a tunneling project of almost unprecedented scope between Oakland and the Altamont Pass.
I recently got to tour the LIRR's control room for the East Side Access project. They will have more than one guy working full-time just to manage the tunnel's fire suppression and ventilation system. They've got a control board and space in the office that is as large as the guys who manage train movements. The whole thing had to be built in an overly-cautious fashion per requirements that didn't exist until relatively recently (not sure of the year). The tunnel between 4th/King and Transbay won't be as big or complicated as East Side Access, but it's really discouraging to see how much is involved to do something big in the United States due to our overly-cautious regulations. It's great that we won't have 5,000 people burn to a crisp in the new Grand Central Madison or the 63rd St. Tunnel, but nothing like that has ever happened in Penn Station or Grand Central or any of the NYC Subway's hundreds of miles of tunnel, after 100 years of non-stop use.
Also, SF people won't like hearing this, but the city is a minority of the Bay Area's population, and employment is widely dispersed throughout the region. If it costs $25 billion to dramatically improve DT SF's HSR service, wouldn't that same $25 billion go much further improving mobility for the Bay Area's many other...areas? None of which will require a second transbay tube or exotic megaprojects?
I think people are underestimating the three-legged stool that will soon prop up San Jose - Caltrain upgrade, HSR, and BART will soon converge at Diridon. DT San Jose is going to experience a significant increase in prominence.