High Speed Rail Email Report..

To Paww...

Went to the SB area confirence on the proposed High Speed Rail proposal from San Diego to Los Angeles that was held at SB downtown library on afternoon of third.

The confirence was only a very preliminary one. The folks were there with their stand up billboards and video to discuss and make sure to contain elements of concern in to a new document then about to be prepared.

I found that zero estimates of cost had been made up, but glowing terms were freely being used. - - Their main point was that if approved today, the document would take the team until about 2013 to complete and get approved. A long time away.

We will have new governor and new rules by then. The current governor announced last week on television a 4.8 billion dollar appropriation of the Los Angeles to San Francisco route along the established coast route. Taxes can thus be added to certain taxpayers along the route each year to fund this, as it overall benefits them more than others statewide. (see a trend in this?)

Zero has been appropriated as for constructon to an inland empire route between San Diego and Los Angeles. But, seems since posting the material at this blog site a week or two ago, things have changed. Not everyone got a card in the mail, but Corona with all of it's population is now going to be on a branch line.

The talk of stopping off in Murrietta, Pomona, Ontario, or Moreno Valley etc. have been eliminated, and now talk is of stopping off in downtown Riverside only on the route from San Diego to Los Angeles. The stop off in San Bernardino is in doubt.

The intermediate stations en route have all been eliminated for they expect that traveling the route will be done in less than one hour.

They have no technology (like the Condorde had some time ago) but the tracks (the mag-lev idea was a pipe dream due to grades) will have overhead electric wires and the train will run on conventional rails. They will be regenerated and fed via power plants up and down the area from San Diego to Los Angeles.

Cost of project is not in billions, but closer to a zillion dollars (minus the environmental report). First trains in about 2040 provided the legislature, the governor and the voters approve it and the new power plants. But as mentioned only a couple of stops en route ought to make the trains fly through GT easily.

Watch out for that turn at Oceanside.... Call in from S.D that a train is en route ought to stop all traffic at grade crossings for 100 miles while we wait for the San Diegans to pass by going to Los Angeles. Question being is what happened to the idea of running trains to Las Vegas?

PAW Suggests:

Perhaps a study on Electric or Hydrogen Powered Bus Services and Free Ridership for 10 years... to encourage Public use of Public Transportation... would be less expencive.