The hunt for dollars to build the $64B bullet train
1–10 of 138 posts
Re: The hunt for dollars to build the $64B bullet train
#2I really hope this project gets built. It will be such a huge boost for California. In the longer term it will be completely essential and people will wonder how the state functioned without it.
It would massively increased the bay area's effective commuting area too.
Re: The hunt for dollars to build the $64B bullet train
#3I love public transit, but there is no doubt that this is in fact a boondoggle that shouldn't be built. That money should be used to expand commuter rail in LA and SF, or better yet, implementing BRT. When we have driverless cars on the horizon, and the possibility that the hyperloop could work out, sinking what will likely turn out to be $100 billion into yesterday's technology makes absolutely no sense.
Re: The hunt for dollars to build the $64B bullet train
#4I really hope this project gets built. It will be such a huge boost for California. In the longer term it will be completely essential and people will wonder how the state functioned without it. It would massively increased the bay area's effective commuting area too.
True, but at this rate, maybe it'd be wiser to hold out for hyperloop?
Re: The hunt for dollars to build the $64B bullet train
#5I'm pretty sure the people calling it a boondoggle are correct. Obama included $3B in the 2009 stimulus package for it back in 2009. Not a single yard of track has been laid.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/us/high-speed-train-in-ca...
http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/263782-obama-high-s...
The project is hoped to finish in 2029, which is 12 years from now.
For comparison, China build the Qinhuangdao–Shenyang line in 4 years (approx half the SF->LA distance). The cost was $1.9B, which is less than what California has already spent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qinhuangdao%E2%80%93Shenyang_H...
Here in India, we've built an entire city Metro system for about $6B. That's twice what it cost California to explore the idea of maybe someday laying track, or what it costs NYC to build 1-2 miles of track.
If we are serious about transit, we will figure out how to get the costs under control. Anyone who talks about finding $64B and 12 years for what should be a $2-4B railway in 4 years is fundamentally unserious.
If we want transit in the US we need to fix the insane cost problem. Anything else is sheer folly.
(Incidentally, anyone mentioning purchasing power or worker costs doesn't know what they are talking about. Paris, Hong Kong, Spain and Singapore are all wealthy nations with costs far closer to India and China than to the US.)
Re: The hunt for dollars to build the $64B bullet train
#6I'm pretty sure the people calling it a boondoggle are correct. Obama included $3B in the 2009 stimulus package for it back in 2009. Not a single yard of track has been laid. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/us/high-speed-train-in-ca... http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/263782-obama-high-s... The project is hoped to finish in 2029, which is 12 years from now. For comparison, China build the Qinhuangdao–Sheny…
What is this actually being spent on? Studies to study the feasibility of a feasibility study to begin a study?
Re: The hunt for dollars to build the $64B bullet train
#7I'm pretty sure the people calling it a boondoggle are correct. Obama included $3B in the 2009 stimulus package for it back in 2009. Not a single yard of track has been laid. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/us/high-speed-train-in-ca... http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/263782-obama-high-s... The project is hoped to finish in 2029, which is 12 years from now. For comparison, China build the Qinhuangdao–Sheny…
It is an embarrassment for the state and this country that we are unable to build something so trivial for other countries without such massive costs.
Re: The hunt for dollars to build the $64B bullet train
#8Our culture is incapable of building anything meaningful without extortion pricing.
Re: The hunt for dollars to build the $64B bullet train
#9I'm pretty sure the people calling it a boondoggle are correct. Obama included $3B in the 2009 stimulus package for it back in 2009. Not a single yard of track has been laid. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/us/high-speed-train-in-ca... http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/263782-obama-high-s... The project is hoped to finish in 2029, which is 12 years from now. For comparison, China build the Qinhuangdao–Sheny…
What is this actually being spent on? Studies to study the feasibility of a feasibility study to begin a study?
Construction workers in the U.S. are decently paid (compared to the foreign counter-parts) and there are a lot of lawyers and consultants who all need a cookie out of the government contract cookie jar.
Re: The hunt for dollars to build the $64B bullet train
#10Our culture is incapable of building anything meaningful without extortion pricing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig
http://bensommer.com/blog/big-dig-big-corruption/
There's a mix of ineptitude, poor/non-planning and some shady deals. With larger projects, more waste is essentially inevitable because of the number of moving parts and limited communication paths.