DLers in California: what do you think of the high speed rail project?

Jesus fucking Christ to that entire paragraph. Anyone who has been in charge of the state or in any way involved in this project from 2008 to today should come no where near national politics, ever.

Some track has been laid in that pinnacle of global importance, Kern County.

It is a complete debacle. But in their defense, a huge chunk of the cost overruns and delays have come from the gazillion lawsuits that opponents have launched at it.

Kind of like how republicans make government dysfunctional to prove it doesn’t work.

But it’s sadly time to throw in the towel.

R2, what's wrong with Kern County? Wikipedia says it has a hot desert climate that's very livable.

Not so?

I've always wondered whether they actually ever did a study to determine if anybody would ever use it. Maybe it has been a boondoggle since the beginning.

r4 Nothing is wrong with Kern County. But one would anticipate that such projects, for publicity purposes, would hurry to commence their operations in areas which are widely-known, well-populated, influential, and a beehive of nationally or globally significant commercial activity. Not many people are going to flock to take a high speed train from Bakersfield to Delano. Of course, they're understandably probably beginning the project where building the route presents the fewest problems and so has lower costs.

There is no point of high speed rail in places like California which have significant geographic barriers around all major cities.

We do need things like this... we do need to build. Even if we don't get to use it, for the next generation. Building is progress... Took forever to get a few stations of 2nd Ave Subway up and running here in NYC or "East Side Access" for the Long Island Rail Road... now both of those lines are beloved and busy... I say build while you can, even if there are delays and setbacks... the money comes eventually..

The other major issue is that when the “first phase” is complete, it will run from Bakersfield to Merced. And that’s it. It will be like that for decades, and become a laughingstock symbol of “blue state” dysfunction. It will become an albatross tied around California’s neck.

There is currently no plan to get the thing into LA. None.

Kill it now. It’s sad, but it needs to die.

r9 Yes, it has a route to Los Angeles and even (in a second phase) San Diego. See link.

R10 I know they have drawn the lines on a map. But it has no funding, no real timelines, no actual plan beyond made up words. The environmental studies alone will delay this for decades and billions of dollars.

I really want this, but unfortunately, it’s not going to happen.

This always felt like a boondoggle to provide transport and boost up the 'red' part of inner California - to cities nobody really wants to go to (Bakersfield, Fresno, Palmdale. etc.).

There are already trains that go to LA from SD in a much more direct line. The line proposed goes WAY out into Riverside/SB counties - which again feels like a push for that area that nobody wants to go to. And there are already commuter LA lines in that area - so they're not necessarily isolated.

PR and financial disaster. It's never going to happen.

Supposedly they're working on a fast train between LA and Las Vegas - I will believe it when I see it. First the train goes to Rancho Cucamonga - not LA - so you have to take TWO trains.

Too many bumfucke areas want their piece of the pie - "Bakersfield will be BOOMING once the train is constructed - we'll be only X hrs from LA or SF - EVERYONE will move HERE!" Um - no.

I think the Great Trump Rail System, located in California, would not only allow people to move across the state faster it’s a loving tribute to the great man and fantastic leader who made it all possible DJT. Every train decorated in the great man’s honor,

California I think with the right approach we can see the money flow and more rails laid.

R12 In fairness to the line they’ve drawn on a map to show the indirect route from LA to SD, the “direct” line is a disaster. It’s not sustainable due to coastline erosion. It’s not operating right now for example, which isn’t uncommon.

R14 - Yes I'm aware - but the coastal erosion is in the same area. Fix that - move that portion of the line around instead of building a whole new one.

It's mainly southern OC part of the line with the issues. No problems in SD or Irvine up to LA.

It's more of a direct route too. Fix that bit and we'd be cool - but nooo - let's spend 100x more by building a new line that goes through bumfucke. I shouldn't have to go to fucking Riverside to go to LA.

Liberals are notoriously lazy and disorganized who try to wing it, especially the farther left they go.

They're procrastinators compared to conservatives, who tend to be more structured and industrious and willing to follow a leader to achieve a main goal.

R15 If it were only that easy though…

Donald Trump should come in and give a speech giving his full support to this waste. Then CA would end it immediately.

R17 - but that's the track that the San Diego commuter Coaster lines go on every day. That section isn't the reason why things on the line to LA closed so many times the last few years. It's the section in San Juan Capistrano or San Clemente.

Whenever it was down, people had to take a bus between Oceanside and Irvine - not because of Del Mar.

Still makes more sense to bring the track in a bit in those areas than to build a completely new line going through East County and Riverside, which are just bedroom residential communities with not much to offer.

It should have been built like the most traveled railway in history. The New Have Metro North Line. Goes from Grand Central to New Haven. It parallels the commute route of I-91. It has a stop at about every other highway exit where there are huge parking lots. The train is never empty. Never. It is extremely efficient and on time. Staffed fully with old timey conductors. Plus they just recently upgraded the cars and they are super nice. That's the kind of railway the US car culture needs. A work a day practical one.

R20 - I agree that new trains should be developed along existing highways. But a lot of rail track was set down way before the interstate highway system of the 50s-60s.

Chicago is one of the very few train lines I can think of that was developed into the freeway system - going right down the middle of the Kennedy and Dan Ryan.

R19 That just highlights that there are multiple problematic points along the coastal route, which makes the case for an inland route stronger, not weaker. And global warming is just getting started.

R21 I’ll try to remember that the next time I’m choking on auto fumes on the C-line in LA.

R23 - the train lines were installed in LA long after the highways were built, not as part of the original highway plans. LA should have done that with all of their freeways back in the 50's and 60s - imagine what a different place it would have been.

R24 Maybe. But the Metro C-line (then Green) was planned right along with the construction of the 105 freeway and they opened together. It is quite an unpleasant experience waiting for a train in the middle of the 105.

From the wiki page on the C-line:

One of the lessons learned from the line, and the Harbor Transitway built at the same time, was that freeway median stations offer a poor rider experience, requiring customers to descend from bridges or climb stairs from dimly lit underpasses to isolated stations in the middle of a noisy and exhaust-ridden freeway.

It's probably never going to be built, and if it is, it will be a waste of resources. I've heard the agency itself is wildly dysfunctional.

Excited for its completion. The foot dragging and demonization of this project (RWNJs primarily) offer another example of just how far behind the US is other industrialized nations. Another example? No universal healthcare. Thanks MAGATs!

Kern County is filled with Okies who came during the Great Depression, thus Buck Owens Boulevard being the main drag in Bakersfield. It has been reliably GQP for decades. I see no discernible differences between Kern County and Oklahomo…except the palm trees.

The New York Times has a very bleak assessment of the project today

The only affordable housing anymore in Southern California is being built in the far eastern portion...Coachella Valley region. There needs to be a high speed rail from there to Union Station. I could care less about SF to LA. They should be focused on day to day travel and not vacation type trips.

I'm a big believer in mass transit and the Inland Empire is growing so exponentially fast that a mass transit system would be a great thing.

HOWEVER

I just see disaster written all over this for numerous reasons......the fact that the entire area is a seismically active area at the very top of the list of those reasons.

^lol^

R31 - meh - there are some commuter lines in Inland Empire already. see link

There's not much of note in the Inland Empire.

Inland Empire= Valley of the Dirt People.

Gross. Can California get rid of them?

Mountain ranges, which hem in both SF and LA, aren't insurmountable. Japan is a very mountainous country, very prone to earthquakes, and has the original high-speed railway system. But it takes a sort of very strong eminent-domain governmental entity and public will to pay for infrastructure to overcome the tremendous price-tag that goes along with those kinds of projects. With the exception of airports and the Interstate system, the US has typically been allergic to large governmental infrastructure projects. The only assist they gave to railroads was in the very beginning with generous land grants all along train routes which would enable train companies to sell land to finance the laying of train tracks. (Land stolen in many cases from Indian tribes - but soon we'll have no record of any of that, since Trump is determined to erase any sort of history that implies that white people were sometimes unethical).

It is most logical to use the Central Valley, which is nearly as flat as a pancake for the majority of any sort of high speed route. There, trains could easily reach 250 mph on a dedicated track. Of course the CV lies pretty far to the east of both cities. Trains would need to twist and turn however to get from the central valley to either SF or LA, slowing them down, and many of the easiest and flattest routes from the CV to the coast are already filled up with highways and towns.