California Chamber Opposes High Speed Rail

If anyone is interested in reading strong arguments for the high speed rail project, the California High Speed Rail Blog is a great read. The authors make a strong case for why it's a worthwhile investment, and when opposition comes up, they matter-of-factly address their issues with well supported counter points. They frequently provide references to studies and articles about high speed rail projects around the world to support their arguments. This is in contrast to posts and articles by those opposed, who say they think it's a bad idea without explanation, or gawk at the price tag without looking at how much we are spending to subsidize airlines and roadways, both of which keep us in oil dependence.

I was inspired by the fact that after many years of being shot down, this is finally going to be on the ballot. So I also just started my own blog to support rail projects. As we close in on November I'll make my case for why trains are awesome and worth our investment. I am in no way affiliated with the project, just a 24 year old who rides bikes and loves train travel.

If you look into the issue a little deeper airlines actually are in a position to benefit from the rail line How? Well, short distance flights are not profitable for airlines, which is why many airline routes that we take for granted are actually subsidized by the government. If HSR takes pressure off airlines to provide fast service for what are short and costly trips for planes, it would allow them to focus on longer and more profitable flights. This why airlines in France have actually been supporting the expansion of HSR there, and one french airline is actually entering the train market it self to supplement their air travel.

Those opposed to the HSR in CA see it as primarily a cost concern, because the up front expense of making it happen will be large. However opposition likes to point at how much the train would cost while ignoring the tremendous expense it would take to move the same number of people with car and air expansion. Also there is the claim no one would ride, which seems highly unlikely given the popularity of travel between the main cities. Even Amtrak with it's 11 hour trip from LA to SF is setting ridership records, and some of it's trains in many parts of the country are now hitting standing room only.

I guess that the California Chamber of Commerce wants:

Increased highway and air congestion.

Spending billions to expand the highways to handle the traffic for people that would have been on the HSR

Spending billions to expand airport capacity to handle traffic for people that would have been on HSR

Wants people to deal with having to spend more time getting to and parking at incontinent airports, spending more time in security than in the air, and dealing with airport congestion than using the more diverse station network and the LRT, BRT, and commuter railroad network to get to the HSR stations.

Want to spend much more to build and expanded a network of airports and highways than the cost of the HSR for a less usable infrastructure.

Keep up the good work California Chamber of Commerce, this way there will be many more jobs to move people less efficiently, slower and more expensively.