CALIFORNIA - The Battle Over High-Speed Rail

"Will Brown's Vision for High-Speed Rail in California Stay on Track?" PBS Newshour 3/1/2012

Excerpt

RAY SUAREZ (Newshour): .... a big battle in California over the future of high-speed rail and whether a huge project now under way will ever be worth the cost.

NewsHour correspondent Spencer Michels reports.

The story was produced in association with KQED and the documentary "Train Wars."

SPENCER MICHELS: This is what the future will look like if California Gov. Jerry Brown has his way: bullet trains speeding at 220 miles an hour between Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, and Sacramento.

The San Francisco-L.A. trip will take two-and-a-half-hours, which compares to an hour's flight, plus airport time, or a five- or six-hour drive. Using this animation, the boosters of high-speed rail have touted their vision of fast trains for years, and convinced voters to okay the 800-mile-long system, a plan which is still on the books.

Supporters argue that fast trains will help unclog crowded freeways, will reduce air pollution and cut transportation costs, while creating thousands of construction and manufacturing jobs.

COMMENT: As a Californian I've been watching this battle for years.

IMHO the nay-sayers are just being very short sighted. Why? The population of California will continue to grow (as with the rest of our nation) and will need more transportation. The proponents ARE correct when they consider the issue of unclogging freeways or roads AND the need for faster transport between California big-cities. Also, high-speed rail is NOT for "short distances," San Francisco to L.A. or San Diego is not a short distance. We have trollies and snail-rail systems already in place for short distances.

And when it comes to Californians and their cars, in San Diego where we have our trolly, many people do leave their cars at home and use the trolly to go to work or shop at our major malls. Sure beets the price of gas and the hassle of parking (especially where we have pay-parking). There is no reason NOT to expect the same with a high-speed rail system once Californians are offered the choice. Then there's the other countries who already have high-speed rail.

Then there's jobs. Jobs for construction of the system and long-term jobs for operation and maintenance.

Also, our trolly paid off the initial cost ahead of time and is profitable. There are plans to expand the trolly system north to Escondido (MAY include a trolly stop at our San Diego Safari Park), and east to El Cajon, in the future which will cover most of the county.

As for the expense, the longer we put this off the harder it will be to find the problems in transportation in the future. The sooner we start we will have this transportation solution in place when the future forces it on us.