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High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it

sfchronicle.com

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Re: High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it

#151

Post by michaelvoz »

superbaconman wrote: post #146
milesrout wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>some good farmland, which CA has some of the best of in the world. Is that a joke? California is a terrible place to be farming. Farming in California is only viable because farmers are allowed unfettered access to water, depriving it from residents (who are told they should turn off the water in the shower while farmers are pouring untold millions of gallons on crops that could be grown somewhere actually suited to…

Wine yo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_wine

Not nearly the same area of the state...

Re: High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it

#152

Post by jwatte »

datahack wrote: post #106

If I had known that they were going to run this through the Central Valley instead of down the coast where it belongs I never would have voted for it. It should have gone straight from la to Oakland or emeryville, turned and gone straight to Sacramento. Instead we have a convoluted mess of rail connections that take people places they don't even want to go (no offense to Bakersfield buts it's hardly a holiday destina…

The coast is already full of private property and protected areas. No way to run a train there (unless you bury it all the way.)

SF/LA commuting is still a thing, though, and will be great!

Re: High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it

#153

Post by jwatte »

klinquist wrote: post #148

One thing that nobody has mentioned - autonomous cars. Close to the time this will be completed, I assume I'll be able to sit in my vehicle and be shuttled from SF to LA in 5 hrs in the comfort of my own vehicle.

The car is slower, and an order of magnitude less efficient. And efficiency matters -- there's a limit to how much energy can be sustainably spent, and if transportation is more efficient, we get to do more other things.

Re: High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it

#154

Post by 1024core »

ajmurmann wrote: post #58
ghshephard wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The shuttle flights between SFO/SJC and LAX are completely unreliable. When I was doing the SF-LA haul regularly, I'd be delayed (delayed!) by 6+ hours at least once per month." I'm curious how that happened to you - I used to fly SFO-LAX from time to time, and was surprised that they didn't even really worry about me missing my flight - they just told me to catch the next one in line. United runs 27 flights daily f…

If it rains at SFO or there is fog they have to close 2 of the 4 runways and now you got massive delays. I've had a flight delayed from 8pm to 1:30am last year. Having lots of flights going the same way doesn't help, if the flights cannot take off.

And what do you do if there's a suicide (unfortunately) on the HSR? The Caltrain that runs down the Peninsula from SF to SJ has a pretty high suicide rate; high enough, that there are people posted to look for potential suiciders.

Re: High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it

#155

Post by gnopgnip »

milesrout wrote: post #140
shiny wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another potential concern is that it runs through some good farmland, which CA has some of the best of in the world. I would love to have an HSR along the coast however. When I was in Taiwan it was amazing being able to get to the bottom of the island in a couple hours.

>some good farmland, which CA has some of the best of in the world. Is that a joke? California is a terrible place to be farming. Farming in California is only viable because farmers are allowed unfettered access to water, depriving it from residents (who are told they should turn off the water in the shower while farmers are pouring untold millions of gallons on crops that could be grown somewhere actually suited to…

California is one of the best places in the world for many crops. Having little rain during the harvest season is a huge boon

Re: High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it

#156

Post by ghaff »

klinquist wrote: post #148

One thing that nobody has mentioned - autonomous cars. Close to the time this will be completed, I assume I'll be able to sit in my vehicle and be shuttled from SF to LA in 5 hrs in the comfort of my own vehicle.

Normally I'm as skeptical of autonomous vehicle timeframes as anyone. But this is a case where even just the highway portion would be a huge win. And one of the cities (as well as pretty much all the intermediate locations) aren't very public transit or pedestrian friendly.

If I'm leaving SF and will be in LA in 5-6 hours (door-to-door) with a minimum of driving [ADDED: with my own vehicle], how attractive is that train?

I do get the efficiency of train travel but if you're already skeptical that the numbers work...

Re: High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it

#157

Post by seanmcdirmid »

klinquist wrote: post #148

One thing that nobody has mentioned - autonomous cars. Close to the time this will be completed, I assume I'll be able to sit in my vehicle and be shuttled from SF to LA in 5 hrs in the comfort of my own vehicle.

Trains as mass transit beat cars on efficiency driver or not. Autonomous cars are best used locally or to deal with last mile problems

Re: High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it

#158

Post by Neliquat »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #109
DrScump wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where right-of-way is shared with freight, freight has priority.

That seems rather backwards. Passengers are the more time-sensitive cargo than freight.

Not if you look at the money tied up in the cargo, vs the fares refunded.

Re: High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it

#159

Post by Neliquat »

milesrout wrote: post #142
DrScump wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where right-of-way is shared with freight, freight has priority.

This is the problem with the stupid American capitalist system. You have these sorts of problems. If it were all controlled by the Government, like it is in other countries, nobody would need to have 'priority'. You just schedule the trains properly.

Sounds great Benito.

Re: High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it

#160

Post by ghaff »

ajmurmann wrote: post #60
joshuaheard wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the figures released before the project, it will cost the same, but take twice as long to go from LA to SF compared to flying. No one is going to take the train instead of flying, except maybe John Madden.

I am frequently traveling between Portland and Seattle. I've tried airplane, bus and train. The train is the slowest of the three. However, The Lyft ride from SeaTac to downtown Seattle costs more than the train ride. The train is also so much more comfortable. Unless I am under time pressure I take the train. The bus frequently smells like porter potty which eliminated that cheaper and faster option. Of course the L…

>I am super concerned about the stops in irrlevant cities though.

And people can't understand why large swaths of the population think well-off techies are out-of-touch.

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