Southern California Democrats have said few, if any, critical words about the state rail authority’s decision in 2016 to drop Los Angeles as the starting point of the first segment of the statewide bullet train.
Rail officials announced at the time that they would instead invest the vast majority of available money to begin building from the Central Valley to the Bay Area.
Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) broached the topic at a House rail subcommittee hearing on Thursday, asking state rail officials and other witnesses how he can justify the project to his constituents.
“What do I tell people in Los Angeles,” said Lowenthal, the former chairman of the state Senate transportation committee. “We talk about the [rail’s benefits] to Silicon Valley and the Central Valley, but … when are we going to see things going on in Los Angeles? We are the population center.”
Under the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s plans, it is providing more than $700 million to install an electrical power system for the Bay Area’s Caltrain commuter system and another $400 million for a downtown San Francisco station, along with other much bigger investments that will flow through Santa Clara County. …
Who wants to go the San Francisco when it smells like turds because they are laying all over the streets along with the needles from junkies.
for this to benefit people and be self supporting it must be between population centers. this may mean use of existing rail lines that will need to be upgraded. also a straighter link and fewer stops will have to be done. this may mean eminent domain in urban territory to straighten the line, possibly making it an elevated line. a decision not made would have been to improve the lines and determine what elements of bullet train service can happen in urban environment.
Nowhere in the world is a HSR system profitable. There are only 2 HSR lines in the world that show a profit. One is in France and the other is in Japan. The rest of the HSR system in both countries operate at a loss. What I want to know is WHY this HSR line in Calif assuming it it ever actually built will show a profit When almost all of these lines in the rest of the world don’t
Japan, a constitutional monarchy, subsidizes their rail system and has toll
roads for auto travel. As far as France goes it’s a Socialist country.
OMG, Alan woke up and asked a sentient question…..
STOPTHEPRESSES!
You hardly ever hear it called the Bullet Train anymore.