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The original plan called for a LA to San Fran trip time of less than 2 hours or 40 minutes, which would have required peak speeds of over 350 km/h (faster than
by Lazare 11y ago
The original plan called for a LA to San Fran trip time of less than 2 hours or 40 minutes, which would have required peak speeds of over 350 km/h (faster than any other train in the world), and average speeds of 320 km/h. This would be difficult to achieve anywhere, but it's especially hard (read: utterly impossible) to achieve on that route, since for regulatory reasons the train will be limited to 160 km/h for significant portions of the route.
Since then, the plan has changed repeatedly, and not for the better. It currently looks like average trip times will be in the 4-6 hour range. That is hopefully achievable (although they haven't built it yet), but one thing it isn't is high speed. (They're hoping to work in some "express" trains which will do better, but it's an open question whether they're manage it, and even if they do, they won't be remotely as fast as Europe, China, or Japan.)
You're talking about trains going 300 km/h, but California is looking to build a train that will be doing literally half that. By many common definitions, it's not even "high speed rail".
> I have a question to all the naysayers
I love high speed rail, and I hope maybe one day California will try and build a high speed rail network. :) Naysaying what they're actually building doesn't mean I don't like rail.
- jvzr 11y agoCurious as to what the regulatory reasons are?
- jrockway 11y agoI assume the issues are related to sharing the tracks with Caltrain. I'm not sure if they are going to fully grade-separate the line from San Jose to San Francisco, so that harms top speed as well. It's too bad too because 350km/h from San Francisco to Mountain View would mean you could make the trip in 11 minutes.
- fulafel 11y agoWikipedia says about speed limits "220 mph (350 km/h) from San Jose to LA (about 422 mi (679 km)) 110 mph (180 km/h) from San Jose to San Francisco (about 57 mi (92 km))[2] " Is this what you are referring to? 90 km at "half-speed" out of 770 km doesn't sound too bad.
- guard-of-terra 11y agoHigh speed rail between Moscow and Sankt Peterburg takes 4 hours exactly. This includes leaving Moscow urbanized area from city centre, a few intermediate stops, and traversing Sankt Peterburg to city centre. I don't see why traveling from SF to LA would take more than 3:30 given that the distance is 100 kilometers shorter. (It also costs around $50 currently but obviously don't expect that)
- fulafel 11y agoWP says that train only goes 250 km/h and that the railway is congested, with another rail being built for just the high speed. So it is really a low lower bound.