Maglev: Vegas to DisneyLand - Governors agree to back fast train

[bananas]

More discussion at the CA High-Speed Rail blog

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/dec/22/governors-agree-back-fast-train/

Governors agree to back fast train
Trip between Vegas, Anaheim, Calif., could take only 86 minutes

Plans for maglev train like the one being tested in Japan in 2003 to give travelers between Las Vegas and Southern California another alternative to Interstate 15 may get a boost from a the economic stimulus plan.

By David McGrath Schwartz
Mon, Dec 22, 2008 (2 a.m.)

<snip>

Near the bottom of a news release detailing Gov. Jim Gibbons’ meeting last month with President-elect Barack Obama was the announcement that Gibbons and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had agreed to move ahead with the high-speed train project.

“Arnold and I agreed to jointly work together on the project,” said Gibbons, who is planning to travel to Sacramento to talk with Schwarzenegger about it.

<snip>

In June, Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, helped pass a bill that freed up $45 million for an environmental study of the route.

Obama and his advisers have been working with Congress on an economic stimulus package that would improve infrastructure and put people to work. The Washington Post on Friday put the size of the stimulus at $850 billion.

<snip>

[proud patriot]

1. COOL

[davidinalameda]

2. if it helps bring jobs to the state, I say hell yeah!

and these would be good jobs as well

[LeftyMom]

3. First priority should be commuter lines: (Reno?)-Sac-EastBay-SF, Stockton-Tracy-EastBay-SF

and whatever the SoCal equivalents would be.

[Auggie]

4. Yes, yes, yes. Existing lines need upgrades too.

BART needs more trains and parking lots. MUNI in San Francisco needs everything. Why are we spending billions on behalf of helping Nevada Casinos?

It's so nearsighted and dumb. So.... "Bush."

[AsahinaKimi]

5. High Speed Train..

I thought it was supposed to Connect Los Angeles with San Francisco... now its going to Las Vegas?
O.o" -- what a disappointment. *cries*

[Auggie]

6. This is in addition to the L.A./S.F. connection

[Oerdin]

7. This additional.

This is an additional line but one which they've been talking about for well over a decade and a half. Several studies have been done on this route but still it never gets built. The last I heard the company proposing this was demanding the state give them, free of charge, all the land needed plus land around it so the company could make development profits, the state refused, and the proposal fell apart. It's honestly cheaper just to have the government do it because if you get a private company to do it they'll demand 10X the cost in extra land because that's how they plan on turning a quick profit. The problem is that's even more expensive then just having the state do it.

[Kablooie]

8. I don't think an LA SF train would be successful.

Most of the trips back and forth are one or two day business trips. Air flights are 1 hour.
Unless the train can go 350 miles an hour it's not going to be a useful alternative to airplane flight.

Las Vegas is different. It's a vacation destination and if the trip took a 2 or 3 hours it would still be used.