Why California Failed High-Speed Rail

[beijingwalker]

Why California Failed High-Speed Rail​

 

[beijingwalker]

We can see how dirty politics makes US so inefficient a country, it takes forever for any new changes to happen there.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Why California Failed High-Speed Rail​

Again the author states the ridership of the train would not be sufficient for the cost. This has been proven over and over and over in US city-to-city markets.

We can see how dirty politics makes US so inefficient a country, it takes forever for any new changes to happen there.

Well in this case it was a bad idea to begin with.
This Field of Dreams "build it and they will come" isn't going to work. It is fiscal irresponsibility.

 

[beijingwalker]

Again the author states the ridership of the train would not be sufficient for the cost. This has been proven over and over and over in US city-to-city markets.

After stating infighting and political struggle between local politicians, HSR failure is just one aspect of US incompetence.It's the people who suffer. In China, high speed railway travels to even the remotest towns near the Indian border in the Himalayas and ride fare is super cheap, and Chinese government is not near bankrupt like US government experiences every year.

 

[FuturePAF]

CA HSR maybe more realistically re-imagined as a way to provide commuter rail service between the two big cities and the more affordable housing markets in the state. In that vein, money would be better spent upgrading the existing rail corridors, to make them faster and use more tunnels to make a more direct route.

The Pacheco and Tehachapi tunnels should still be built but so that eventually the Central Valley is connected to the two major cities, even if it’s not at the full speeds anticipated.

 

[beijingwalker]

CA HSR maybe more realistically re-imagined as a way to provide commuter rail service between the two big cities and the more affordable housing markets in the state. In that vein, money would be better spent upgrading the existing rail corridors, to make them faster and use more tunnels to make a more direct route.

The Pacheco and Tehachapi tunnels should still be built but so that eventually the Central Valley is connected to the two major cities, even if it’s not at the full speeds anticipated.

Why construction of high speed railway proves to be so expensive, hundreds of billion of dollars, in China they only cost a fraction of that sum.

 

[WotTen]

For some reason, Americans don't like to travel in trains. Amtrak is pretty much a financial failure. Maybe it's part of the individualistic 'freedom' mindset. My car, my domain!

It's the opposite in many other countries. In Italy, the national airline Alitalia went bankrupt because people prefer high speed trains.

 

[Maula Jatt]

Except for some routes rails would never become successful in US for cultural reasons

 

[beijingwalker]

For some reason, Americans don't like to travel in trains. Amtrak is pretty much a financial failure. Maybe it's part of the individualistic 'freedom' mindset. My car, my domain!

It's the opposite in many other countries. In Italy, the national airline Alitalia went bankrupt because people prefer high speed trains.
ziqi92

The comment section gathered 4,497 Comments so far in one day, people do want it.

1 day ago
I’m a native Californian and have lived abroad in both China and the EU. I’m rooting for the new high speed rail to complete because I’ve experienced first hand how incredibly convenient HSR can be. It’s a freedom of mobility most Americans can’t experience unless they have a car. The problem I feel is that engineers weren’t given full authority over the project and instead had to constantly cater to politicians. I don’t have anything against linking smaller towns and cities to the HSR. In fact, I’d argue that it’d greatly help with skyrocketing housing costs in CA by drawing people away from the big cities and move into smaller communities that could benefit greatly from a population growth. Ultimately, however mismanaged this whole affair has been, I think it’s absolutely imperative that the HSR be completed. I-5 and Hwy 101 by car isn’t going to cut it for much longer and both roads become bottlenecks when someone inevitably gets into an accident due to sleepy driving under the heat of the Central Valley.

 

[Cancerous Tumor]

When it comes to airliners and airports VS trains and railroads, U.S is in a unique position that China or India are not there yet.U.S is manufacturer of both of them and China or India are not so it makes perfect sense for China/India to make best possible situation with what they have.

Let's make imaginary case:
it's 1980 and China have abilities similar to corporation Boeing at home and similar capabilities like what China have today in regards to rails and fast trains.
How would be China's railroads looked like today if they had these things in this case ?

 

[beijingwalker]

When it comes to airliners and airports VS trains and railroads, U.S is in a unique position that China or India are not there yet.U.S is manufacturer of both of them and China or India are not so it makes perfect sense for China/India to make best possible situation with what they have.

Let's make imaginary case:
it's 1980 and China have abilities similar to corporation Boeing at home and similar capabilities like what China have today in regards to rails and fast trains.
How would be China's railroads looked like if they had these things in this case ?

India doesn't have HSR like US, so these two should be grouped together, not with China. Check out how Americans who did try high speed railway in China and how they compare it with US, they just can't have enough of it. Americans who never tried HSR are just frogs living under a rock.

Let's make imaginary case:
it's 1980 and China have abilities similar to corporation Boeing at home and similar capabilities like what China have today in regards to rails and fast trains.
How would be China's railroads looked like if they had these things in this case ?

Let's talk about today, China also has the best and most convenient airports in the world, but vast majority still prefer HSR.

 

[Cancerous Tumor]

India doesn't have HSR like US, so these two should be grouped together, not with China. Check out how Americans who did try high speed railway in China and how they compare it with US, they just can't have enough of it. Americans who never tried HSR are just frogs living under a rock.

When it comes to India they are still 1-2 decade behind rail capabilities of China but still they don't have Boeing like China.

 

[Cancerous Tumor]

Let's talk about today, China also has the best and most convenient airports in the world, but vast majority still prefer HSR.

I'm a pro rail myself but I would love to know how much of China rail network has been built based on necessity and lack of ability to manufacturing airliners.

 

[unrequitted_love_suzy]

they probably didn't ban chinese tech like Huwawei.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Why construction of high speed railway proves to be so expensive, hundreds of billion of dollars, in China they only cost a fraction of that sum.

It's $105B

Well for one thing how many million dollar properties did the Chinese government have to buy to put in the track? Remember one end is in LA and the other is in San Francisco.

Even empty farmland in California is $5000-$12000 an acre (4046 sq meters). Those for housing can easily be $1M/acre...and that doesn't include the building on it.

They would certainly have to try and buyout land in mostly undesirable places away from heavily populated areas. This likely is going to make the route not very efficient.