Getting off the ground in California
The California High-speed Rail Authority has been quite busy over the past few years. Their web site has lots of interesting information on their plans and deliberations. When I lived in the Bay area, this seemed like more of a dream, but they are definitely a pretty serious bunch. They have identified where the rail line should do from San Diego all the way up through the Central Valley to Sacramento, and they now have to figure out how out to connect to and travel through the Bay Area. They also will require a lot of money - $33 billion for the entire system, $9 billion for the first part. Some interesting details (dreams?):
- once built, the service provided by the system is expected to yield annual operating surpluses in excess of $300 million
- because high-speed attracts more passengers, generates more revenues and lowers unit costs of production... The resulting combination of higher revenue and lower unit operating costs has made all highspeed train services net contributors to the financial performance of their operators.
- Express high-speed trains will take one hour and fifteen minutes between San Diego and Los Angeles, and a little over two and one-half hours from San Francisco to Los Angeles. When time to get to, through, and from stations and airports is factored in, high-speed train travel will be as quick or quicker than air travel for most trips, and less time-consuming than all but the shortest intercity trips by car.
- High-speed train fares will be set between the cost of driving and the fares for air travel and will vary depending on the service chosen, the demand for seats and time of booking. To meet passenger demand forecast by 2020, 86 weekday trains in each direction are expected to run in a mix of express and local trains.
- California’s high-speed trains will use state-of-the-art electrified trains capable of speeds of up to 220 mph in revenue service similar to those in service today in Europe and Asia.
and realities:
- In California, a high-speed train will compete with automobiles and airplanes, which have enjoyed a century of substantial public funding and are well-established. Until the high-speed train system operates at a surplus, public resources will be needed for capital and deployment costs.
Post Author:
csa | 6:41 PM |
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Loving the Idea. Not loving the huge Right-of-way acquisition expenditure. unless there can be a dedicated track for this project, this is a no-go. Otherwise it'll just be as "high speed" as the Acela (i.e. averaging 55mph over the trek).
Going to be tough to purchase suburban homes in between each othese cities, tear them down, lay rail, and convince the surrounding posh neighborhoods that the sound of a high speed rail won't reduce their property values.
