Even if it succeeds on its current trajectory, it will be studied for 100 years as a massive failure.
Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated
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Re: Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated
#22The problem with local infrastructure projects is their responsibility and execution fall to local community leaders (in this case local = state of California). These leaders are far less efficient and impactful than the federal government, a bar which is already way too low. Nearly every city in the US has had recent collisions with corruption, blatant mismanagement, ideological forces co-opting process, etc. and so…
> What options are even left at this point? Look at countries that do have high speed rail, which are of similar size to US states, and study what they are doing differently?
The dictatorship part is on its way, but multiplying population by 5 might be a challenge
Re: Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated
#23This piece seems to concede all of the problems critics of CAHSR (notably Ezra Klein) bring up, and then argues they never should have been problems in the first place or begs their underlying questions. For instance, yes, it took forever for funding to get secured. That's part of the state capacity critique of CAHSR! Or, for another example, yes, the current Central Valley routing is practically just as hard (per mi…
Yeah, I had the exact same reaction to this that you did. One of Klein and Thompson’s primary arguments is that we are failing by letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. This article’s thesis seems to be ‘yeah but perfect is better than good, so we should do that.’
Re: Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated
#24CAHSR was opined years before SR 85 and 87 and before VTA light rail.
It's the perpetually never-happening, chicken-vs-egg aspirational project for mass transit in an area dominated by urban sprawl and car-first infrastructure that would need massive investment in local mass transit like Japan first.
Re: Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated
#25The problem with local infrastructure projects is their responsibility and execution fall to local community leaders (in this case local = state of California). These leaders are far less efficient and impactful than the federal government, a bar which is already way too low. Nearly every city in the US has had recent collisions with corruption, blatant mismanagement, ideological forces co-opting process, etc. and so…
> What options are even left at this point? Look at countries that do have high speed rail, which are of similar size to US states, and study what they are doing differently?
This would work if we could run state governments like mini "countries" but there is not enough interest from the electorate and thus very little oversight so they end up in a bad way.
I would like very much for California's state legislature to be on par with, say, South Korea (similar population size & dispersion with great bullet train infrastructure). Unfortunately it operates much more like Thailand or El Salvador pre-"throw everyone in jail".
Re: Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated
#26The problem with local infrastructure projects is their responsibility and execution fall to local community leaders (in this case local = state of California). These leaders are far less efficient and impactful than the federal government, a bar which is already way too low. Nearly every city in the US has had recent collisions with corruption, blatant mismanagement, ideological forces co-opting process, etc. and so…
> What options are even left at this point?
I suspect we're dealing with the fallout of the loss of an American nomos (shared values, traditions, and moral principles formalized into law, custom, and convention) -- the very issue John Adams wrote about in a 1798 letter:
While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation, while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candour, frankness, and sincerity, while it is working diligently under the cover of these pleasing appearances and employing the most insidious and base artifices, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world. Because we have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
When moral virtue is not valued, who will rise to the top and be elected to public office but non-virtuous people?
Failing the development of something like what John Adams is referring to, I fear that the only way "forward" (if it can be called that) is a different form of government, in which individual liberties will be greatly reduced or denied altogether.
My personal opinion -- it's a spiritual problem that needs a spiritual solution. Pray for the nation.
Or we can just keep trying to run through molasses :)
Re: Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated
#27Imagination: Another ~3,800 words worth of "opinion". Reality: Zero miles of high-speed rail deployed. Many such cases. Edit: Downvote all you want, that still won't make the rails appear, lmao.
As the piece points out, the lack of rail is pretty much irrelevant. Once all the guideways are in place, there is a machine that you just drive along that poops out perfect rails at ~1km/hr. It is the most trivial part of the project.
That's kinda like saying a car is easy to build because they have automated painting robots.
Fundamentally the problem is that most of the land they want to use is owned by someone else, and that means every single parcel is a potential, and often actual, legal fight. In theory this is what eminent domain is supposed to accomplish, but people dislike eminent domain more than they like high speed rail. Well meaning but onerous environmental regulations don't make it any quicker either. When your rail plan goes through the nesting site of an endangered bird species or something that's another big legal fight.
Even though the measure passed with a majority of the population, you have a situation where thousands of people have effectively a personal veto over it. Either their rights get trampled or the project doesn't happen.
Re: Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated
#28There are some really good details in the article. But, to quote: > Despite more than a decade of predictions of its failure, the project has persevered — even if its completion is in limbo. I'm not sure that's much of an endorsement.
Yeah. Reports of its death may have been exaggerated, but reports of its life are a bit flimsy.
Re: Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated
#29The problem with local infrastructure projects is their responsibility and execution fall to local community leaders (in this case local = state of California). These leaders are far less efficient and impactful than the federal government, a bar which is already way too low. Nearly every city in the US has had recent collisions with corruption, blatant mismanagement, ideological forces co-opting process, etc. and so…
We could actually just pay more money to public governmental employees, allow them to build careers (and raise families), and stop contracting out everything. This would also increase competition for such roles.
How we got here is ultimately, especially for CA, land and legal cost, cost of living, and public employee salary relative to private salaries. That’s endemic to major metro areas in the US, with some small exceptions, but especially true in CA.
Before it was shut down, we did see a real reversal with 18F in getting things through, for software projects. Of course, they weren’t even being paid industry wages there.
Re: Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated
#30I think the biggest issue with CAHSR is that Florida just did it anyway.