California leaders set for high-speed rail groundbreaking Tuesday

[MisterP]

77. all right, let's assume that "facepalm" is how one asks for a reasoned, mature discussion

I see nothing in CA's political or infrastructure situation that indicates that pulling the plug on HSR would allow some sort of commuter-rail renaissance: in fact HSR will provide both "push" and "pull" demand for local subways/LRT but also heavy commuter; cancelling one sort of train won't be *good* for other sorts of train since the competition isn't within public transit, but between transit on one hand and roads and air on the other: for instance, breaking Amtrak into state consortiums wouldn't make commuter rail sprout from Columbus to San Antonio (and I'm in fact much more pro-commuter rail than I am pro-HSR, since 40% of the country's emissions are just commuting)

CAHSR is not what's making Metrolink fatally feckless, HSR's not what's making Caltrain and BART complacent and refusing to play nice with anyone else, HSR didn't mangle both ends of the Green Line, HSR's not what delays passenger rail for up to two hours with freight traffic, and HSR's not what held up LA's Expo Line for 5 years solid (in fact it's been *one man* hired by *one neighborhood*)

CAHSR's final plan is called the "blended plan" because maybe half the money is in fact going to old, existing systems north of Gilroy and south of the massive wall of mountains around LA: the OC tracks even sponging heavily off HSR funds (without the HSR network getting much back): HSR money is what's making commuter rail faster, safer, and more reliable--basically bringing it up to *Bulgarian* standards

from a transport-mode perspective, HSR's core benefit is that it knocks out the numerous but unprofitable "puddle-jumper" flights under 500 mi., which the airlines themselves want to drop--even Southwest has been sick of intrastate flights since 2000 (but again that's their own fault after what they did in TX); it's even profitable in most countries since its cost is upfront (whereas airlines' costs are day-by-day and fluctuating)--Amtrak's profitable (ceteris paribus) BosWash and San Jose-Sacramento, and that's under current conditions that don't let it past 80 mph average; FAA reports 18,000 fly Bay Area/LA a day, so CAHSR Express will dig into that $2.5M daily market (which is currently heavily congested and becoming a liability for the airlines at $135 a ticket)

CA has had to pay for CAHSR on its own, since the Pee Party cut *even the programs that wouldn't cost Washington, CA, or NV a cent*: CA's transit funds (road and rail) are more county-based, but they're very plush, so again HSR isn't crippling commuter rail (commuter rail is actually painted into a corner by long waits between trains and heavy spikes in traffic--it's useless during three-quarters of waking hours under its current model)