O, Sweet Saint Of San Andreas

Every time the legislature gets "bold" somebody's wallet gets lighter.

The construction will provide jobs, yes.

Why "green"? Where does the power for the railway come from? If it is designed primarily for freight, feeder trucks etc. will be necessary.

Americans love their cars and trucks. This new high-speed rail might very well be underutilised.

Oh well. If high-speed rail works in Europe, it surely surely will work in the US. No?

Atlas Shrugged yet again 9in California. These people are collectively stoned. The Book doesn't do justice to the real insanity produced by this dying State.
I wonder when America as a whole clues into just how raving nuts these Politicians have become are?
California is now a social disease.

In the 1920s, the New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad used to race each other to provide the fastest passenger service between NYC and Chicago. They reached over 120mph, no small feat for a coal-fired steam locomotive that has to stop for water and lubrication every 100 miles.

Nowadays, AMTRAK diesel-electrics can barely average 50 mph on intercity service.

By the time this "high-speed link" collapses in ignominious failure, Conestoga wagons pulled by Chinese horses will be the norm.

"It's all good"

Monorail... monorail... monorail. When the State becomes a parody of a cartoon it's time for the curtain to come down. If it hasn't already. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSoa1b-yBUY&feature=related

This 'Simpson' clip came to mind. "Monorail,monorail".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEZjzsnPhnw

Amd just who is going to buy their "junk" bonds???? Maybe the Chinese???

My prediction-
It will involve huge cost overruns and be decades late in completion.
It will be plagued with mechanical and other problems.
It will eventually be abandoned.

Train travel is so 19th century. In the 19th century it was very convenient to go from the railway hotel in down town Toronto to the railway hotel in down town Ottawa. Now, would first have to get to down town Toronto to get on the train. Its then a five hour train trip to down town Ottawa, except the train station isn't down town any more, so I then have a half hour cab ride to get to down town. The fair for the whole trip ends up being about 300$ and six hours of time. I can drive it in 3 to 4 hours and spend 50$ on gas. Bit of a no brainer. I suspect that a train from LA to San fran is about the same. By the time it is done they will probably find that they have spent so much money and have so few passangers, that they could buy a new car for everyone who has to take the train because they have no choice.

Mr. Brown, I'd like to introduce to you, Mr. McGuinty.....

We keep voting these thieves into office time and time again.

I just don't get it.

Well, the freaks and faeries will be able to better visit their gangbanger bretheren...this should be good.

I wonder if they will have rail spurs to AZ., Col., TX to facilitate the economic refugees escaping this bankrupt failed state?

Why high speed rail? 'Cause going to hell in a handbasket ain't fast enough!

"an initial 130-mile stretch of the high-speed rail line in the agriculturally rich Central Valley"

Who needs agriculture when you can get all your fruits and veggies at the grocery store?

I would say 10% chance they ever complete the route from LA to SF. I expect the state to finanacially implode before then.

I wonder if this Democratic hard-on for trains is step one in a strategy to force all but the elite (themselves) out of air travel altogether. "Flying would be so much better if I didn't have to deal with all those peons!"

The route is 136 miles long (219 km) between the bustling metropolises of Madera (population 61k) and Bakersfield (population 354k). Imagine the throngs of commuters waiting to ride in a high-speed train between those destinations. This is so evil and stupid (and expensive!) it beggars belief. California has 10% if the population of the U.S. and one-third of the people in the entire U.S. receiving welfare. The state is functionally bankrupt. Where to begin on the problems of this erstwhile prosperous state, now becoming a giant rathole.

But this train will bring about true marxist equality- e.g., it will impoverish everyone.

It's going to get ugly.

@frank Q

The thieves are voted in . While i think mc squinty is a doofus he was put the by the even more idiotic stupid people.

We are very close to the tipping point where the takers out number the makers and if this keeps up society will collopse mark my words SOCIETY WILL COLLAPSE!!

I vote conservative and wild rose here in my province of alberta and i think albertans still have a little time but not much more than anyone else nanny redford is soo busy patting herself on the back for all of her spending heroism and the sheeple keep clapping like seals ar ar ar ar!!

typical everyone of those clapping is getting something from those who are not clapping !! when will we wake up .

I just keep prepping for the collapse!! It is really all i can do i mean i fight i got to city hall and applaude good decisions and let me know when i think they are off track (no pun intended) . But out side of that and voting there is nothing we can do !!

Link not working, all I get is a blank page. Has it been taken down?

It will never be built. The point is to slosh around billions of dollars to unions, environmentalist groups, consultants, local political interests etc.

It will be a good start to bankruptcy for the state.....it won't take to big of hiccup; in the interest rates....////

It will be a good start to bankruptcy for the state.....it won't take to big of hiccup; in the interest rates....////

Paul in Calgary;

Also vote Conservative and Reform in the past. If I lived in Alberta, I would also have voted Wild Rose.

The arrogance of Redford is only surpassed by her twin, Duffus McSquinty.

WR will be alright for the next election.

Might as well do it up right, extend the line all the way to Seattle,and maybe even up to Vancouver.

That would create lots of jobs,and they could use the tracks to ship all that crude oil of ours down South to LA,then East to the Texas gulf refinery!

That would create LOTS of jobs!

Judging by this post and the EU situation, I assume mass financial suicide is de rigeur these days.

The most productive agricultural land in the USA, with a train running through it, to take a few hundred people from LA to San Fran, because the roads are clogged with X millions of cars.

So, X millions of cars, minus a few 1000's a week, = about... X.999 millions of cars clogging the highways from LA to San Fran.

Just to be clear, this is set to cost only X Billions of dollars. or possibly, at the outside, maybe X.2 or X.3 Billions of dollars.

And then once the train is running up to Seattle / Vancouver, why not run it up to Ft. McMurray and attach a few hoppers of oil tankers on it, then no Keystone Pipeline would need be built.

dmorris; Genius, so happy you're on our side. :)

This can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby. *Jean Drapeau

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Drapeau

Perhaps they should start a lottery to fund it too?

It will be safer if they use Reardon Metal for the tracks.

I'm real curious to know how they're gonna manage construction South of Bakersfield. The Tehachapi pass ain't exactly easy going and on the line that runs through there now trains can barely manage 15-20 mph. If there was a way to run track through that territory that allowed faster speeds, I'm pretty sure UP would have already built it.

So it's the lack of rail passenger transport holding back California. Who knew? I thought it was because it was morally and financially bankrupt.

@ Edward Teach:

That is so the thieves on horseback can rob the train...at the Tehachapi pass!

Oh wait, the politicians have ensured the riders no longer have any funds, because the unit cost per ticket is well north of a million dollars.

Another reason they call it a "BULLET TRAIN" is that said frustrated train robbers will shoot the engine and put an end to this financial nonsense.

Cheers

Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief

1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”

marc in calgary at July 7, 2012 1:18 PM
"The most productive agricultural land in the USA,......."

You are sure way outa date.

The Central Valley WAS the most productive....until the enviro-nuts shut the water off because of some minnow(Delta Smelt) in the San Joaquin Delta.....

http://www.cfact.org/a/1581/Tiny-fish-threatens-to-turn-Californias--Central-Valley-into-Dust-Bowl

Well actually, the Sweet Saint of San Andreas may be just the ticket for this boondoggle. Nothing like a good earthquake whilst the high-speed train is hurtling along to reduce the population. With any luck, the event will occur when the train is coming into a Leftist stronghold...

Compared to ca Under the current regulatory and fiscal environment, building the great wall of china was a piece of cake.

sasquatch @ 4.52 pm, yes I have that correction coming, WAS the most productive land in the USA.

er, when do we get to taste the Delta Smelt? How are they planked on coastal cedar? or popsicle sized tiny Delta Smelt sized planks of coastal cedar? uff.

Dmorris.. They will get to within a hundred miles of Seattle, where a rare maggot will be found. The EPA will fine them a million dollars a day for their transgressions towards said maggot (the Sharpton maggot-one of a kind). Abandonment will be the only solution, as the Sharpton maggot has now mated with the Obummer genus, and things have now gotten beyond the governments ability to deal with this over-whelming problem. Meanwhile the EPA fines continue to mount.

Mystery Meat.. Wait till the promised charging stations are all up and running for the magic electric cars.. Every 25 miles there will be thousands of commuters waiting to charge their dream cars, waiting up to 90 minuets while their cars charge after the fistfights and shootings, while they wait in line to get a plug. What a nightmare we are all in for, until somehow sanity returns.A 136 mile trip will take 12 hours, if you don`t get shot.

http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/05/california-schadenfreude.html

Found here-
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/category/rail-and-mass-transit