California high speed rail update

Posted on December 26, 2018 by Fred Stiening

So the things I heard was BART glommed onto money to buy new rail cars, construction workers are being hired from minority communities and high paying jobs are being generated, even if no high speed rail train ever runs

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14 Responses to California high speed rail update

  1. Parrott says:
    December 30, 2018 at 12:05 am

    Here’s the deal. I have received for Christmas 2018, The Southern Railway , a book by Flannery, Lindsey, Oroszi. Great book. Good history overview of each division and many pics. Mainly in the diesel era before merging with Norfolk & Western.
    Good stuff. Listening to John B Wells, worked at the N&W archives today. Enjoying a great drink with mr Evan Williams. The Jeep is running good also.
    Hope all is well with you & and Mrs Countess, now that you are home.
    I’d kinda like a cigar, but its 28 degrees. outside, ha ha. John B is fired up tonight,

    Have a good one ! Hope The Chairman is good ! and CC, and Briand & Haiti ! Hi !
    best
    Parrott

    • Fred Stiening says:
      January 1, 2019 at 1:29 pm

      It will be around 70 degrees in Charlotte today. This has thrown Countess for a loop and she was considering calling for an ambulance again. For now, she is fighting the fever with homeopathic remedies.

  2. Parrott says:
    January 9, 2019 at 10:24 am

    State of Virginia plan for ‘upgrade-ing ‘ I-81 . Governor Ralph, (D) has proposed tolls for I-81 , with no reduction in gas tax. They love to raise taxes , but its for the children.
    No mention if they plan to widen to three lanes all 325 miles of I 81 in VA.
    ( Just enhancements) .

    West Virginia widened their 26 mile portion to three lanes each way years ago. I support the proposed bridge from West Virginia to Pennsylvania over ‘mer-lan’.

    VA general assembly getting ready to start and come up with another 300 worthless new laws this year.
    that is all
    parrott

  3. CC1s121LrBGT says:
    January 28, 2019 at 7:46 pm

    WHY? Y?

    A brand new Prius cost $26k list. A brand new Jaguar can be had between $37-74 depending on model and options. Plenty of used cars for less than $10k. You can drive them anywhere at any time and take your spouse, kids, or friends for a free ride when you do. What could you buy with $322k? You could fill your three car garage with three new Teslas and still have lots of money left over? WHY? Y?

    Turns out WHYY never asked WHY? or Y? https://whyy.org/articles/inspired-by-king-of-prussia-west-chester-ramps-up-campaign-to-restore-rail-service/ when they reported about spending $322k for each of 2000 potential daily commuters just to open an existing two lines of track that had been in service for decades. Of course, these 2000 people would not ride for free and the public would also have to pay new taxes to subsidize their operational costs… and if the riders want to take friends, or family with them, they will have to pay for that too. And they can only go in one direction (and back) and only at certain times of the day.

    No one wondered WHY? or Y?

    or even why not?

  4. Parrott says:
    February 13, 2019 at 9:38 am

    Whoops, Ran out of ‘other peoples money, I guess.
    California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Tuesday he is pulling the plug on the state’s massive high-speed rail project from Los Angeles to San Francisco that was more than a decade behind schedule and billions in the red.
    “Let’s be real,” Newsom said in his first State of the State address. “The current project, as planned, would cost too much and respectfully take too long. There’s been too little oversight and not enough transparency.”

    Newsom added that while California has “the capacity to complete a high-speed rail link between Merced and Bakersfield,” “there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A.”

    The embattled $77-billion bullet train has been an embarrassment for the Golden State and has been plagued by problems almost from the start.
    source–> https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-to-pull-plug-on-billion-dollar-bullet-train-cites-ballooning-costs

    oh well,
    parrott

    • CC1s121LrBGT says:
      February 14, 2019 at 8:33 am

      Assuming they can finish the project for free, and someone pays off all the loans they incurred so far. Their spreadsheet still predicts that all their riders will flock to them to pay 2x the existing price of a nonstop flight from LA to SF on Southwest airlines.

      It was clear at the start that the train project wasn’t really a train project – it was just a vessel to shift tax money to Democrat campaign contributors to repay them and reload them for oncoming battles for Democrats to retain power over the taxpayers.

  5. CC1s121LrBGT says:
    April 24, 2019 at 9:01 pm

    Maybe the new Merced to Bakersfield track will become part of the New Silk Road and Bering Strait rail line.

    In May 2014, China gave its support to the Bering Strait Tunnel, something Russia has offered over $65 billion in funding. Canada and the US seem more interested in the Merced to Bakersfield at high speed. Go figure.

    Yesterday’s news today: https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/04/23/russian-china-polar-silk-road-challenges-british-geopolitics/

    • Fred Stiening says:
      April 24, 2019 at 11:56 pm

      The first time I heard of this idea, it was partly to transmit electricity – since it would connect parts of the earth with different demand based on time of day

    • Parrott says:
      April 25, 2019 at 10:34 am

      Dude, Canada and ‘First Nations’ have signed off on a project to connect Alaska to Canadian rail network.
      https://www.adn.com/business-economy/2019/03/31/governor-asks-trump-for-permit-needed-to-connect-alaska-railroad-to-canada-lower-48/

      I read the document where they had a detailed plan on the route. Lots of tunnels and bridges. Lots of Bridges. They want to run that distributed power bullsh , instead of manned pushers and pusher districts. But its hard to find a non-stoner to drive a train anymore, from a remote outpost. There are only a certain number of railfans out there to draw from. It will have ‘PTC’ so they won’t need engineers to drive the train. Boring.

      Parrott

      • Fred Stiening says:
        April 25, 2019 at 12:28 pm

        So this would connect Canada to Alaska, which would make a Russia/Alaska link make more sense. BC Rail originally hoped to do that but abandoned much of the track due to massive losses and little traffic. BC Rail was merged into Canadian National (CN)

        The Alberta Oil Sands may be a motive to restart this, as Canada may need additional export capacity. But getting to Alaska is a huge distance away from getting to Siberia or even an ice free port.

        • Fred Stiening says:
          April 25, 2019 at 4:01 pm

          The existing Alaska Railroad is woefully inadequate for this purpose. It primarily is a tourist railroad and a lifeline to people who live next to the tracks. Most of the railroad operates using only train orders in dark territory and has no block signals. There is no shift change on the 350 mile mainline and crews often time out their 12 hour limit and have yard crews go rescue the train.

          The railroad is owned by the State of Alaska. Interchange is currently done with rail car ferries as there is no terrestrial connection.

          • CC1s121LrBGT says:
            April 25, 2019 at 5:38 pm

            I just want to take a solar powered train from NYC to London England…. once AOC outlaws carbon-based fuel, there will be no air travel unless we bring back the Zepplin… and it ain’t getting a Whole Lotta Love. On the train, I can Ramble On, Over the Hills and Far Away… 😉

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