Comments on: Your View: Stop high-speed rail before it gets on track

By: Melanie

Melanie — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:44:57 +0000

Nice to see somebody summarize the flaws in the HSR proponents arguments. I grew up in Europe and to try to say that HSR will be successful here because it is there is ridiculous – there are corridors on the east coast like Boston-NYC-DC (where I have lived) which are comparable and where a HSR line would make sense, but in CA our infrastructure is completely different. HSR is a dream of politicians who want to see their names associated with grandiose infrastructure projects to make them feel good about their achievements without regard to economic reality after they've left office. Hey, we've already wasted $500 million on bankrupt Solyndra, why not a few hundred billion on CA HSR?

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:59:23 +0000

HSR is a boondoggle and cost overruns may run over 100%. This will be CA's "Big Dig".
FL was smart to reject the HSR financial disaster. An election is upcoming – vet your candidates on the issue of HSR and remember Congress will be CUTTING so CA taxpayers get to pick up the overrun tab.

By: James Leno

James Leno — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:55:52 +0000

Ridership and revenue projections are just that – projections. If you are faulting people for how badly they predict the future, that's a common fault to find. It's not misinformation to provide updated information when changes are made to the project after public input.

How will all of those Google, Apple, and San Diego tech company employees going to get to work on crowded freeways? More and more, the answer is "Wake up and leave earlier to beat the traffic."

The reason trains are better than electric cars is that trains will always be able to carry more people than freeways. Even if every gasoline car were replaced with an electric, freeways would still be clooged twice a day, every weekday. Drivers would just sit in traffic jams more efficiently.

And no matter whether California's HSR uses a new or existing right of way, the new rail corridor will still take less space (and therefore displace fewer homes, farms, and businesses) than widening freeways. That's not a claim. That's a mathematical certainty.

Millions of people already travel far out of town to an airport, just to fly to another airport, to find another way to get where they want. And even if rail travel in Europe is declining, it's not being abandoned at all. As you said, more new rail lines are being built in Europe. In fact, worldwide, rail travel is on the rise. Brand new HSR plans are being made in places like Australia, Brazil, India, Uzbekistan,and even Iraq. Yes, IRAQ, where we right now have troops looking for Al Qaida, has signed a deal with France to build a HSR line in that country. Will anyone use trains? All around the world, the answer is Yes.

If we've seen what little our government can do over three years with HSR, we've seen even less over the last 30 years since the last time we tried to build it. Back then, the argument was "The economy is so good, we don't need it!" Today, the argument is "The economy is so bad, we can't afford it!" How long are all the HSR detractors going to dance from argument to argument, while the rest of the world passes us by?

By: Joseph Taylor

Joseph Taylor — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:05:30 +0000

Who will use the High Speed Rail System is a good quesition, one right behind who will pay to build it and who will pay for operating it. The last question is easy, it will be all state tax payers when in fact few will ride it due to the cost and inaccessiblility of other transit systems.

Public transit has not caught on – See http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_610LBEH...

See the 5-page PPIC study on CA transportation trends, published last June.

The share of the workforce commuting on public transit in the state’s four largest metropolitan areas barely increased from 5.5 percent in 1990 to 5.6 percent in 2006, despite the introduction and expansion of several light rail and commuter rail systems such as Bart.

Consider a stop now, even if it causes the loss of federal dollars, since the loss of our money make the fed contribution look like a drop in the bucket.