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As an avid fan of railroads, I honestly don't think we can blame the press for the clusterfuck that is California HSR ...

Gibbon1 2y ago
Usually I let stuff like this go but why don't you be actually specific about what you think is wrong. Because anyone can stay something is terrible without explanation.
- yongjik 2y ago
  Well, for starters, whose bright idea was it to start building from Bakersfield to Merced. Approximately nobody needs to travel between these two cities. Until you connect it to either SF or LA, it just becomes an expensive money pit. What a great way to persuade Californians that this project is worth the money. A high-speed rail from downtown SF to San Jose would have been more useful than that, and then it would become more and more useful as you expand southward. Likewise starting from LA.
  - AnimalMuppet 2y ago
    > Well, for starters, whose bright idea was it to start building from Bakersfield to Merced. Approximately nobody needs to travel between these two cities. Until you connect it to either SF or LA, it just becomes an expensive money pit. It's slightly worse: Until you connect it to both SF and LA, it's a money pit, because not enough people need to travel from LA to Merced, either.
    - Gibbon1 2y ago
      One of the advantages of running the line along the HWY99 corridor is that's also next to the existing rail which has a lot of at grade crossing. Much of the work is building separated grade crossings for both high speed rail and the freight rail. Another part of the project is electrification of Caltrain. That project is complete and in the final stages of testing with service planning to begin in the fall. That will eliminate pollution and noise from diesel trains and cut the travel time by 25 minutes.
  - Gibbon1 2y ago
    > whose bright idea was it to start building from Bakersfield to Merced Someone that's good with maps and realizes it adding 17 miles to the route runs the line through the side of the valley where several million people live. Vs the side where no one lives. If you think about it I5 through the central valley is a dumb idea. It's 27 miles shorter yes, and runs 250 miles through the middle of nowhere.

Gibbon1 2y ago

Usually I let stuff like this go but why don't you be actually specific about what you think is wrong. Because anyone can stay something is terrible without explanation.

yongjik 2y ago
Well, for starters, whose bright idea was it to start building from Bakersfield to Merced. Approximately nobody needs to travel between these two cities. Until you connect it to either SF or LA, it just becomes an expensive money pit. What a great way to persuade Californians that this project is worth the money. A high-speed rail from downtown SF to San Jose would have been more useful than that, and then it would become more and more useful as you expand southward. Likewise starting from LA.
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago
  > Well, for starters, whose bright idea was it to start building from Bakersfield to Merced. Approximately nobody needs to travel between these two cities. Until you connect it to either SF or LA, it just becomes an expensive money pit. It's slightly worse: Until you connect it to both SF and LA, it's a money pit, because not enough people need to travel from LA to Merced, either.
  - Gibbon1 2y ago
    One of the advantages of running the line along the HWY99 corridor is that's also next to the existing rail which has a lot of at grade crossing. Much of the work is building separated grade crossings for both high speed rail and the freight rail. Another part of the project is electrification of Caltrain. That project is complete and in the final stages of testing with service planning to begin in the fall. That will eliminate pollution and noise from diesel trains and cut the travel time by 25 minutes.
- Gibbon1 2y ago
  > whose bright idea was it to start building from Bakersfield to Merced Someone that's good with maps and realizes it adding 17 miles to the route runs the line through the side of the valley where several million people live. Vs the side where no one lives. If you think about it I5 through the central valley is a dumb idea. It's 27 miles shorter yes, and runs 250 miles through the middle of nowhere.