Any country can build a high-speed train when it wants, but there are too many interests at stake but building the shit out of an F35 there are no funding problems....
The Brits do it pretty well, too. Not to mention Australia. Problem is that decisions are taken by Politicians and they only have vision as far as the next election. If a project has an end date longer than their time in government, they are not likely to be interested. China doesn't have the same problems since their "Government" is there for Life.
It would be nice if they just started out small, building a railway segment by segment to connect a major starting city to smaller local cities, before eventually making it to the other major city. And it doesn't need to be a full-blown high speed railway either: just a normal train will do wonders for commuters. It's better to work out problems for each step incrementally than to deal with all of them at once.
This was a very informative and interesting video and a good history lesson. Fact Check: There are 55 miles of HSR tunnels planned not 38 miles. Federal grants requests for the 1st 171 miles will be $11 billion not $8 billion. The population from Merced and Bakersfield is about two million not the half million indcated with just the two cities.
It used to be that Architects (when they were in control) allowed a 10% contingency in any project. Now developers and beancounters think they are so clever that their costings are 100% accurate and they have not overlooked ANY contingency. Lucky for them, there are many fools who are easily parted from their money.
A lot of that budget cost isn't for the all the construction cost for the hsr but for future engineering learning programs to keep it Americans made, and for future projects. It actually for the Long term game not short term. Also HSR is great for the immediate city more so than the entire metro area as well. Bakersfield is the 48 largest city in population in America passing Tampa Florida.
Lets face it all these projects are nothing but a chance to steal huge amounts of money. It's currenty happening in UK as well with so called high-speed rail as well.
Since 2008 China has built thousands of mile of High Speed Rail, and now California is downsizing to less than 200 miles. SMH Maybe Newsome should give the Chinese a call to sort it out.
This project should be cancelled immediately. All it is now is an expensive public works project funding high-paid union jobs. Most of the traffic congestion it proposes to solve takes place in the metropolitan areas of LA and SF, not in the traffic between those two cites. Air travel is cheaper and more convenient.
So, assuming the Merced to Bakersfield line got finished AND you had enough riders to cover operational costs (never mind the initial building costs) how will those customers get around once they arrive at their destination? You will need local carbon-zero buses, taxis and other solutions to get around. Further, Merced, Fresno and Bakersfield do not have an East Coast building aesthetic with tall buildings and neighborhoods compressed together. Everything is spread out; a result of the car culture which may have been born in Detroit, but came fully of age in California. This adds to the issue of local mobility once the rider arrives at their destination. Urban planners love trains, but this area (the San Joaquin valley and State Route 99 corridor) is not urban in design. A fantastic waste of money which Californians simply could not and cannot afford.
This is fantastic video, it’s also the only video I seen about CAHSR that has actually talked about how positive this project is and will be. Also, thank you for acknowledging that people actually live in the valley and that once a high speed line is actually built it’ll be even easier to build more!
Arthurian legend of Holy Rail. As of March 2023, the Japanese public debt is estimated to be approximately 9.2 trillion US Dollars. We hear high rail is profitable but it is not it cooked books, creative bookkeeping, biggest debt creator was mega bridges, Japan has one bridge 1:10, it means it requires 10 times more concrete and steel to support own weight that is not engineering even in mathematics such prorations are tremendous, but 70-90s Japan was rich and loaded with money so construction companies made good buck. Fetishism with asphalt, concrete and high speed rail. Taxpayers still pays dues in Japan over expenditure made in 60-90s.
This video makes assumptions not in evidence. There in no way this turkey supports itself with ticket prices. Ask the public the same questions again. Would the public pass a $30b bond again for what this has become? Not the chance of a snowball in Hades and the price has gone up $100b to go to Bakersfield? I'd like to see this hung around Newsom's neck. Someone should pay with their career if not their freedom for this level of malfeasance. When a project goes this far off the rails it should have to go back to the voters for re-approval. The way the public eats up this CGi crap is disgusting. Grow up. Life isn't a cartoon.
