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> Crossing the California Coast Ranges is very challenging! They have huge elevation changes, The project scaled back its goals significantly. There's a lot of
by nwallin 7y ago
> Crossing the California Coast Ranges is very challenging! They have huge elevation changes,
The project scaled back its goals significantly. There's a lot of talk about SF<->LA, but the only concrete plan is (was?) Merced<->Bakersfield, where the elevation changes consist primarily of overpass abutments. Everything else is placed on definite hold. This is the equivalent of trying to put a man on the moon and settling for watching Star Wars on Netflix.
And connecting Merced, Fresno, and Bakersfield by train is not a billion dollar priority. These towns are already connected by train, and nobody uses it. The reason the California HSR project was interesting is because it replaces the bus route which currently connects the Bay Area to the LA metro area, not because it upgrades the current rail system which already connects these much, much smaller Central Valley towns. Merced has a population of 80k people. Bakersfield is 380k. Who cares?
- dragonwriter 7y ago> There's a lot of talk about SF<->LA, but the only concrete plan is (was?) Merced<->Bakersfield No, the only place construction is actively underway is Merced-Bakersfield. The whole SF-LA line is just as much actively doing planning and environmental clearance and seeking funding for actual construction as ever.
- nwallin 7y agoYour information is out of date. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer/california-bullet-train-plan-abandon-newsom-rail https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer/california-bulle... > "Right now, there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to LA. I wish there were," he said. "However, we do have the capacity to complete a high-speed rail link between Merced and Bakersfield."