High-speed Rail that works

LOS ANGELES, CA — When U-Haul announced an investment in a massive project in California, the state leadership's panic over continued population loss subsided. The relief was short-lived, however, as it turned out U-Haul's big project was just building a bullet train to accommodate the moving needs of everyone fleeing California for Texas.

"We were initially ecstatic when we saw the U-Haul corporation begin construction on this bullet train in our city – until we saw it was pointed East, towards Texas, rather than North towards Sacramento." Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass broke the bad news to California Governor Gavin Newsom, say sources familiar with the situation, and apologized for her premature call to the Governor bragging that she had finally attracted people to her crime-ridden city in the expensive state.

It has since become clear that U-Haul was just helping more people and businesses leave the state more efficiently, to reduce the burden on U-Haul's truck fleet, which has been buckling under the strain of all the Californian refugees.

Comments

[HMB]

I liked Palo Alto Online's April Fool story about turning Hoover Tower into a residential high rise better ;-)

[Joe]

It's only better if the high-rise is "affordable" ;-0

[Jennifer Pfaff]

Caltrain Open House --First Public Tour for New Electric Trains Saturday, July 29, 2023

"The new state-of-the-art vehicles will be put into service in Fall 2024 --Caltrain will be holding the first public tour of the agency’s new [non-moving] electric train cars from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 29. The new train cars will serve as the centerpiece of the transformative Caltrain Electrification Project."

And nearly 150 years ago....

On May 31, 1879, Siemens & Halske presented the world's first electric train in which power was supplied through the rails. The 150-volt direct current flowed through the two rails to the small locomotive via an insulated flat iron bar mounted between the rails.