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May 22, 2008

Midnight Movie: High-Speed Rail in California

Doesn't this make you all warm and fuzzy?

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Comments (11) [rss]

though its a nice first step, too bad it's slower than the european bullet trains of the 80's.
not to mention the limited routes.

 

I think a tear came to mine eye...

 

Dayum!!

You mean I could get from L.A. To Gilroy for the annual garlic festival no car required?!?!


MMMMmmmm!!!

I can taste that garlic ice cream already!

 

That's the spirit jrb

 

Wouldn't it be amazing if it were finished before I'm 100?

 

*sigh*
i'd love it.

 

It would be so awesome to see this actually happen, especially right now that jet fuel is so pricey!

 

Enough talk let's just do it! Just don't forget to connect it to Vegas. :-)

 

@ Johnny:

NOW YOURE THINKING!!!

 

@ peekist -

220mph = 350kph, as fast as any bullet train in the world today. The 1980s vintage TGVs max out at 187mph = 300kph. There's a limit to how fast you can go on steel wheels. Besides, what you need to compare is door-to-door trip times. Train stations are downtown and you don't need to subject yourself to security screening before you plop down in your roomy chair and fire up your laptop.

@ johnny -

yes, that would make sense. Of course, thanks in part to the delay in getting the California system onto the ballot, there are already two competing high-speed rail projects for Las Vegas in the EIR/EIS mill:

- the privately funded $3.5 billion DesertXPress to Victorville, based on diesel trains at 125mph and,

- Sen. Harry Reid's (D-Nev) $12 billion maglev gadgetbahn to Disneyland in Anaheim and the planned $4 billion Ivanpah Valley airport between Jean and Primm.

Some 30% of all flights into and out of McCurran airport are from and to California cities that would be served by the steel wheels HSR network. If Nevadans pay for a nice straight spur off that and cancel the other projects, people could get to Vegas from Burbank in ~1:45 hours, LA in ~2:00, Anaheim in ~2:20, San Jose and Sacramento in ~3:00 and SF/San Diego in ~3:20.

Palmdale airport would be 1:20 from Las Vegas, but that might be good enough for some passengers - especially if they could take care of check-in and security on the train!

Based on the DesertXPress estimate, the cost of electrification and high-speed rolling stock plus the slightly longer route, I'm guessing such a spur would cost $7-$10 billion, depending on the exact alignment and how nice a station people want in Las Vegas.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107511680599374219842.00044e26854cb91cf518e&z=7

 

omg - i want, i want, i want!!

 
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