Slower high-speed rail encouraged by officials (California)

[AsahinaKimi]

Regional transportation officials plan to push for a scaled-back high-speed rail system on the Peninsula that also would accommodate a modernized Caltrain with a minimum of new construction.

"We see this as the way forward to save this project," said John Grubb, a senior vice president of the Bay Area Council, a pro-business advocacy group.

The council, working with Metropolitan Transportation Commission officials, is calling for formation of a coalition of Bay Area transportation agencies and cities to work with the California High-Speed Rail Authority to come up with an acceptable plan to run high-speed trains between San Jose and San Francisco, perhaps at less-than-high speeds. The group also plans to hire San Francisco lobbyist Alex Tourk to help build business backing.

The rail authority all but halted planning and environmental studies for the Peninsula segment two weeks ago, saying it needs to know what kind of project the Bay Area will support - and whether it is legally and physically possible - before it spends any more money.

more..
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/27/BAE51KFDOT.DTL
Less than High speeds?

[gateley]

1. We'll still be debating this 100 years from now. Kind of like

"addressing the traffic problem" in Washington State. Nothing gets accomplished other than the "solution" of new HOV lanes. :eyes:

[Kaleva]

2. Buy some high speed trains from China and make travel by rail exciting!

[originalpckelly]

4. Don't give them any ideas, OK?

[originalpckelly]

3. Such bullshit.

:eyes:

California is ripe for high speed rail, real high speed.

[AsahinaKimi]

6. Yeah but whats the point of having a high speed rail

if the thing "crawls along". You may as well just extend BART farther!

[kenny blankenship]

13. We don't want to make other ppl feel inadequate about their trains by showing how fast ours can go

[AsahinaKimi]

16. It doesn't have to be the fastest train in the world...

But they have high speed trains in Europe and Asia, and I would surely except an average speed of any of those trains. Being able to get from SF to LA in an hour (or hour and a half) would be ideal.

[FreakinDJ]

15. 80 mph with limited stops would still be faster then a plane

by the time you get parking, go through check in, go through security ...

No way anyone here can tell me they can get from SFO to LAX - car to car in less then 4 hours

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Slow-speed rail? That'll work.

:eyes:

[Starry Messenger]

7. It's pure NIMBYism.

The local propaganda posters are advertising the rail tracks like the Death Star is going to blank out the sun.

[Cirque du So-What]

8. Despite my cynicism regarding the lack of vision about high-speed rail in this country

I am willing to consider half-a-loaf as a way to get it jump-started. I firmly believe rail travel is destined for a revival, and I see any progress made as beneficial in the long run - even if the train speeds are 'less-than-high.' Just do SOMEthing, f'cryin' out loud!

[tularetom]

9. If they do a half assed job now, it will cost 10 times as much later

If we assume that there will be continued (or renewed) growth in CA, we will ultimately need this facility.

We can't afford it? Maybe we can't afford not to do it.

[AsahinaKimi]

12. I can see the headlines now...

The United States first High Speed Rail clocks at 40 mph!!!

[kenny blankenship]

10. Engineers and planners are calling it Tastefully Restrained Speed Rail

We could go faster, much faster, but that would be showing off.

[pitohui]

11. that's the good old american "can't do" mentality that made us great

good lord, what's with all the negativity and "we can't do fuck all" we see in this country these days?

from the "low speed rail" to the "why build a levee around new orleans" crowd, we're constantly hearing about why it CAN'T be done

meanwhile other countries have been doing it just fine, for years on end

[Xithras]

14. Good.

It's already been demonstrated repeatedly that the proposed HSR system will have a negligible impact on our traffic and pollution levels because the LA-SF I-5 traffic comprises a fairly small percentage of overall road congestion.

Abandon the North/South link, and instead spend those billions to build a series of REGIONAL rail systems and to underwrite the construction of community light rail systems. Those will remove more cars from the road and have a more immediate impact on our environment than a showy HSR link ever would.

I wish I'd saved the link, but one of the environmental groups did a study demonstrating that the construction of a comprehensive light/intercity rail system around the greater Los Angeles basin would remove more cars from the road and pollution from the sky in a year than the HSR proposal would remove in a decade, simply because it would be more immediately useful to a much larger portion of the population.

[marginlized]

17. Use the old rights of way, new rails, more track?

One look at CalTrain's weekday commuter schedule:
http://www.caltrain.com/schedules/weekdaytimetable.html

shows that trains are often running about 10 minutes apart. It's hard to imagine how you're going to get more trains more often without additional tracks. Maintaining existing rights of way adds more density where the existing infrastructure is. That's what you want, right? You don't want to create a new transit corridor burrowing through established neighborhoods. Acquiring new rights of way would be the costly solution. Given that the route runs along the south bay from SF to SJ, solidly highly urbanized to begin with, an EIR is necessary but maybe not critical? Also given the number of cities and stops you have there, how is "high speed" even a requirement?

Thinking that you're going to morph CatTrain's already tight south bay service into SF to LA in less than 3 hours is a long shot. Even a bullet train from Sacramento to Los Angeles paralleling Hwy 99 on preexisting rights of way would have fewer stops.

The real impediment is CalTrain ends in Gilroy and Holister (of The Wild One fame), surrounded by mountains. Better to extend BART from Livermore to Tracy or Manteca and connect to bullet train there.