High-Cost Rail - Part 149 Diesel or Electric?

Our last chapter in the high-cost rail saga involved delays costing tons of money and painted a glum picture of waste here.  The SacBee is reporting on an Assembly Transportation Committee meeting in Fresno yesterday where several assembly members posed overly-logical questions and offered alternative approaches to the Gavinor's Merced to Bakersfield all-electric white elephant.  That needs another $4.8 billion--likely much more. Here are two different views of where to spend more money.

Assembly Member Laura Friedman, D-Burbank, gave voice to rumblings among legislators that some of that money may be better spent on improvements that will ultimately be needed for high-speed rail in other parts of the state.  She discounted what rail authority CEO Brian Kelly and others described as the value of completing Merced-Bakersfield as a fully electrified high-speed line to demonstrate that it can be done.  Instead, she said it is more important to invest in segments in more populated areas that can demonstrate value by increasing ridership significantly over existing levels.

She's talking about LA-Anaheim-San Diego or even the LA-Vegas route that is being discussed.  The other change of direction idea involves sticking with diesel!

Daniel Curtin, a member of the Rail Authority board since 2015 and a Sacramento resident, advocated for a different way of thinking among his board colleagues that includes acceptance of incremental improvements in train service through the Valley with 125-mph diesel trains running on the new line now under construction, rather than spending billions more on electrification and new trains.

“The question not being addressed is simply this: is it better to ride a 170-mph train from Bakersfield to Merced and then have to get off and wait for a different train … if your destination is San Jose or Sacramento?” Curtin said. “Or is it better to have a one-seat ride through the Central Valley from Bakersfield to Merced then on to San Jose or Sacramento on a 125-mph train? … The one-seat ride is always the answer, always.“

The bottom line is the same--we've burned through billions of dollars, taken a lot of private property, there is no plan to get to the population centers either technically or financially and no business plan to ever make back what has been spent.  But plunge ahead we must according to the governor.

Comments

[Bruce Dickinson]

California can't even pay for this when we are at the peak of a booming economy. Once a recession hits, the HSR as originally conceived will probably and finally die. Too bad billions have (and still will be) wasted until then.

To Bruce Dickinson, THAT is the real impeachable offense, if ya know what I mean!?

[Joe]

Direct from the CHSRA:

Video Release: 2019 Wrap-Up for Major Construction Progress on High-Speed Rail

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The California High-Speed Rail Authority has issued a video highlighting some of the major construction milestones that happened this year on the high-speed rail project. Kicking off the year with the completion of the realignment of State Route 99 in the city of Fresno, there are now nearly 30 major construction sites underway throughout the 119 miles of high-speed rail construction in the Valley. Several projects have been completed, with major progress also being made on existing ones, such as the San Joaquin River Viaduct and Fresno Trench projects. This construction has resulted in millions of investments that have been made in the region, with more than 350 small businesses from the Central Valley participating in the project and over 3,000 construction workers dispatched to date. For the latest on construction, visit BuildHSR.com.