California High Speed Rail - What comes next?

[@Pokephira]

Another reason why it's better to go north first is because the San Francisco Bay Area is way better prepared to actually receive HSR and it's much more popular politically.

[@The_Poro_King]

And the housing crisis in the bay area

[@metadexter]

This is such a thorough and fascinating overview of the rest of phase 1! Thanks for all your research and condensing it down into an entertaining video :)

[@AmpereBEEP]

Thank you so much!

[@TheRailwayDrone]

You should be working for the high speed rail authority. You made this video very easy to understand even for those who doubt the benefits of the project.

[@ChainChomp2]

The only thing I might have to suggest is zooming in when viewing text in PDFs, documents or webpages (if you're screen-recording your web browser, you can just ctrl+scrollup) because otherwise the text is tiny, but text is also usually rendered as vector paths in that it'd scale up without getting pixelated.

[@AnthonyPinkerton-d7p]

I'm glad to see that CP 4 is almost finished; I'll actually relax once CP 1 and CP 2-3 are completed. I'm also super excited to see how the CalTrain Corridor will be built at Brisbane! With regards to the CalTrain Corridor; I'm curious why the State of California hasn't requested that an animal over crossing over Monterey Highway and Coyote Valley?

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

There will be several wildlife crossings in Coyote Valley, planned and most likely built by CAHSR. They posted a video about it a while back.

[@TohaBgood2]

Great video! As always!

[@AmpereBEEP]

Thank you!

[@malcolmmccaskill2311]

Would be good to present more information on the rail connections at Merced into the Bay Area and Sacramento. Unless these connections are fast, attractive and high capacity the high speed rail will become a laughingstock of low ridership and the chances of securing further funding minimal. There are plans for one ACE per day from Merced into Sam Jose. That’s not going to be sufficient to bring up ridership on the high speed rail.

[@davidjackson7281]

The San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority that runs and oversees the San Joaquins and ACE trains has secured $1.6 B in funding to about double the current passenger capacty to connect in Merced to CAHSR, including Sacramento. How much that helps is to be determined.

[@TohaBgood2]

That's not exactly true is it? There will be other ACE trains including ones that go to a new Union City BART station. Since BART will have reached Downtown San Jose by then that will also be a perfectly viable SJ connection. Plus all the San Joaquins trains will also have BART transfers. You'll still be perfectly able to take the train from San Jose and reach the CAHSR section.

[@davidjackson7281]

You may soon be at 1,000 well-deserved subscribers.

[@michaeljones7927]

To clarify (in regard to word usage in the previous comment), the word "shin" in Japanese means "new" and "Shinkansen" means "new main line". It was originally used in 1964 to describe the new high speed, standard gauge railway running from Tokyo to Osaka. It was later used to describe other HSR lines constructed by the Japanese National Railway.

[@P0w2you]

Great video and detail!

[@pistolaycorazon]

Getting it to Palmdale alone would be a huge step in favor of ridership. There is no need to spend the additional billions tunneling through the San Gabriel mountains if the funds aren't immediately available. It would connect directly to the Metrolink system in the Los Angeles region and a single transfer to get to downtown Los Angeles. There are already Metrolink trains that run with limited stops to the Palmdale/Lancaster area. Would also be an incentive for connectivity to the Brightline west connection across the Antelope Valley corridor. Let's go! Let's get that connection. There is currently NOTHING except for bus travel into the central valley from Los Angeles.

[@Itwillgrowback]

Can’t wait for you to cover the Downtown Fresno HSR station design

[@kurumafox]

thank you mister protogen

[@AmpereBEEP]

Of course señor fox

[@mentalillness1574]

also i love how in-depth your videos are. keep it up

[@MarioFanGamer659]

17:27 This is a bit offtopic but now I understand the bottleneck on the line (I know two freight lines merge here which makes the line already well used) and why the freight operators give no rights for passenger operation there. 21:45 This looks like a quite sharp curve but looking at it, it looks barely any sharper than the existing tracks to San Francisco (4th & King Street, not Salesforce).

[@LonecloneProductions]

The HSR connection to ski resorts could be a sizable market. In Denver they have an Amtrak line specifically to Winter Park which drops you off like 10 feet from the slopes. It's proven to be pretty successful in recent years in part to the major weekend warrior congestion along I-70. The town of Steamboat wants them to extend it up there as well, and it would double as commuter rail to service the workforce population that's priced out of housing in the town. And that's all just standard speed!

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

Getting across Pacheco Pass to Gilroy and the Caltrain line to SF is CAHSR’s next goal once Merced-Bakersfield service is established, with any timeline dependent on securing enough funding. They’ve been doing geotechnical work to study the soil and rock composition in preparation for eventual tunneling. CAHSR estimates the longer of the two tunnels will take up to six years to complete once construction begins. To my knowledge, they’ve also begun doing the same on Tehachapi Pass. Potentially both passes could be crossed simultaneously if CAHSR secures enough funding, each estimated to cost around $20-30 billion (Merced to SJ and Bakersfield to Palmdale), with Pacheco taking priority if CAHSR only receives enough for one pass. Both routes have been environmentally cleared, so both could be built simultaneously if funding allows. If both passes could get funded in the mid-2020s so construction could begin soon after, then potentially we could have SF-Palmdale HSR by the mid-2030s. With the Metrolink connection to LA, that would allow the SF-LA all-rail journey via the Central Valley.

[@davidjackson7281]

Sure would be great to secure $60 B total for the two routes with tunnel passes plus $8 B more needed to complete the ios for a mid-2030s connection to Palmdale. Metrolink is then two hours to LAUS (aka LAUPT). Did i understand correctly?

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@davidjackson7281 the high end cost of Merced-San Jose is $28 billion (base cost $21 billion) and Bakersfield-Palmdale is $20.7 billion (base cost $17.1 billion), so total CAHSR would need between $38.1 billion and $48.7 billion. The Metrolink connection from Palmdale to LA does take two hours, with nine intermediate stops, but they’ve run express trains with just three stops that were 18 minutes faster.

[@davidjackson7281]

@ChrisJones-gx7fc AV Timetables indicate the "express experiment" apparently ceased. With track upgrades an express could save an hour. Scenic Acton to Santa Clarita is a slow 40 minutes for 20 miles. Perhaps electrifying and double tracking would help. Plus later some passing triple tracks and quad tracks at stations to accomodate CAHSR. The route may be shortened with some tunneling from Santa Clarita to Burbank. Chris do you know what the annual ridership is for the AV line? The 350 mile Pacific Surfliner has the second highest annual Amtrak ridership outside of the NEC, per you. Ridership is about 2.15 M down from 2.85 M. Brightline will exceed 2 M in 2023 and 3 M is projected for 2024/2025. Point is rail service may work best in growth areas with more tourism and less remote work.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@davidjackson7281 Metrolink is increasing service frequency on the AV Line starting October 23rd, adding nine weekday trains and doubling weekend service to 12 roundtrips. I’m not sure what the exact current ridership numbers are, but given Metrolink is adding more trains that should be an indication there’s more available, or at least it’ll entice more potential riders as there’ll now be more options throughout the day. As for the express trains, I’m not sure why those ceased but they do show trains can make that trip in well under two hours. Metrolink does plan on adding more double tracking in the SFV and Santa Clarita. In regards to Pacific Surfliner, it’s the LOSSAN corridor that’s the busiest outside the NE, which stretches from San Diego through LA to San Luis Obispo, and covers Pacific Surfliner, three Metrolink routes and Coaster. FY2022 ridership on Surfliner was 1.6 million, up from 841,000 in FY2021 , a 94% increase. Much of that ridership is between LA and San Diego, with some continuing out to Santa Barbara and fewer all the way to San Luis Obispo. Amtrak’s ConnectUS 2035 plan calls for adding a new service between LA and San Jose via the Coast Route.

[@michaeljones7927]

@@davidjackson7281 There is something incongruent, David, about a HSR system that has a maximum train speed of 220 mph for much of its route, and then dumps its passengers off at a remote "suburban" station, i.e., Palmdale, where they can then take a relatively slow commuter train for a two plus hour trip to LAUS, when the promise in 2008 (enshrined in law) was 2 hours and 40 minutes between SF and LA. Such a system is a dramatic UNDER ACHIEVER, and unworthy of the State of California..

[@japanamericacar427]

Very good video, super hopeful the project gets more funding

[@sdsd4139]

"Salesforce Tower, which is the tallest tower west of the Mississippi" Cries in Wilshire Grand's antenna

[@TohaBgood2]

Antenna!

[@mrxman581]

How about a more in depth video regarding what needs to get done in the SoCal area for the arrival of the CAHSR including Anaheim. Then maybe a separate video covering the second phase. Thanks, again.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

The two well known projects currently happening are the Rosecrans/Marquardt grade separation that’s now underway, and Link US which plans to have its first phase done, namely the rail overpass over Highway 101, in time for the 2028 Olympics.

[@mrxman581]

@ChrisJones-gx7fc Thanks. I would like to see a mile by mile look at the CAHSR route within the LA County section. For example, I didn't realize, until he mentions in this video, that it's going through the City of Commerce which is a stone's throw from where I live. Is it the same ROW that is currently being used by Metrolink? There is a Metrolink station in Comnerce. Thanks, again.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@mrxman581 yeah, CAHSR’s LA-Anaheim route will for the most part share the existing Metrolink/Amtrak tracks, including BNSF’s Southern Transcon mainline between LA and Fullerton. The estimated travel time is 47 minutes, same as the current Surfliner, and would include a stop at Fullerton and/or Norwalk. CAHSR had a plan to help finance a new intermodal facility in Colton, since their findings showed many of the intermodal trains coming into LA carry containers that are then trucked back out to the Inland Empire. A new intermodal facility out there would eliminate the need for those trains to travel into LA, thus opening up those slots for high speed trains, but I’m not sure what the current status of that is though I believe it met local resistance and got canceled.

[@mrxman581]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc Thanks for that information. Very interesting.

[@Alejandro-vn2si]

Just in 11:48, the new Transbay terminal was open on 2018, not a decade ago. While it is true that it is an old bus station (which was opened back 1939), but the new one is not a decade old. Just a correction, but I love your video! Keep going!

[@AmpereBEEP]

Sorry about the mistake! I meant to say half of a decade ago, but missed it in the editing process. I will make sure to do better next time!

[@Alejandro-vn2si]

@AmpereBEEP No problem, thank you for replying! Hopefully, you can make more videos about the bay area transit! I know LA has tond of transit improvements, but here in the Bay area we have too! Hopefully, you can cover more of them!

[@Brian_rock_railfan]

great video 👍

[@KyrilPG]

Very interesting! 18:10 The Tarentaise or "Olympic" Valley in France is where the world's largest mega ski resorts are located, and it is served by high-speed trains, mainly (1000 to 1200 seat) double-decker TGV's from Paris and Lyon but also Eurostar from London and Thalys from Brussels, Amsterdam or Köln. One mega resort in particular, Les Arcs / Paradiski has a funicular line connecting directly the train station "Bourg Saint Maurice" to one of the main "villages", Arc 1600, of the resort. From there you can access the entire resort on skis and cable lifts. Tignes & Val d'Isère resorts (Espace Killy mega resort), Les Arcs & La Plagne resorts (Paradiski mega resort), Courchevel, Méribel, les Ménuires & Val Thorens resorts (3 Vallées mega resort) and some others are all accessible on the same branch. The HSL doesn't go that far yet, but HS trains run on HSL up to nearest exit and hop onto the regular upgraded network to serve these stations. The Lyon Torino HSL and base tunnel should bring high-speed track closer to the valley. They are major holiday destinations and these seemingly small stations stack up millions of passengers during winter and summer seasons. Living in Paris, I used TGV a lot to go skiing in Paradiski or Espace Killy, no car needed ! As a good chunk of these mega resorts are pedestrian anyway. The cost of anything related to CAHSR is ridiculously and outrageously high and for no good reason. When you see how the French, Italian or Spanish HSLs are built, you see little to no difference, but they cost drastically less. EU's or member states' environmental regulations are stringent, especially in France where every new construction has to acquire at least double their land footprint and "sanctuarize" this double by preserving, rewilding and reforest it, barring any and all construction on that land. LGV SEA, a 300+ kilometer long HSL, plus nearly 40km of access tracks and acceleration / deceleration ramps and hundreds of bridges, wildlife under/overpass, "frog tunnels", wildlife and forest continuity overpass, etc. Plus some river and creek rebedding and wetland restoration. A line with all the environmental bells and whistles you could think of, and yet it only cost 7.7 billion euros (including multiple stations overhaul and destination track upgrade and reorganization). Maybe something should be done to address the cost issue first, before building something at such huge expense as it could discourage public support and end up like HS2, which would be a catastrophe. The cost of rail infrastructure in the US is totally abnormal, it is only going to be a worsening hurdle for any project. No one should accept that! Don't get me wrong, I'm a strong rail supporter, I don't drive nor do I ever owned a car or driving license. And precisely because I'm a rail supporter, I think the abnormally inflated cost of rail infrastructure in the US and English speaking countries in general is unacceptable. Something has to be done about it to return the cost to more normal levels and then build big. Public transportation infrastructure is for the public good, not for everyone even remotely involved to line their pockets. Super-commuters : HSR is great for super-commuters, it's estimated there are about 200K to 300K TGV super-commuters in France. They have a TGV subscription and make up a good chunk of the ridership on certain schedules. Especially on city pairs like Paris Reims, Lyon, Tours, Vendome, Rennes, Nantes, Lille. I've got some friends who work in different cities according to the day of the week and it's often faster for them to access their place of work in a distant city than in the deep suburbs. One of them lives in Paris and works as a university professor, a couple days per week in Reims, about 100 miles away. It takes him 42 minutes to get there on TGV. So he leaves his home about 1h15 to 1h30 before his Reims University lecture starts and uses the 40 minutes in the train to prepare it. The TGV changed his life.

[@osmanhossain676]

Yes and yeah of course California High-Speed Rail.😮

[@RR-ow9vz]

Having high speed rail stations next to ski resorts is first seen on Joetsu Shinkansen in Japan since 1990s. The Echigo-Yuzawa station itself and the winter-only Gala-Yuzawa station serve as ski destinations straight from Tokyo.

[@Jay-nk6dm]

i hope with the central valley section completed, people will realize the gains that can happen if we suddenly connect everything, and there will be more political will to speed things up. i also think the zoning shuffling that the bay is going through (although net positive to build more housing) may effect the ridership of those super commuters

[@danielantoniozd26]

Excellent!

[@kayaguvendi]

Amazing video

[@daniellewis1789]

Ski resorts with shuttle or direct access to HSR would be a huge win for whichever resorts get connected.

[@davidjackson7281]

How much snow actually accumulates at 4000 ft.? Don't need another station to slow the train down.

[@MatthewSchellenberg]

Drastic elevation changes are extremely difficult

[@daniellewis1789]

@@MatthewSchellenberg This is why you connect to the base village, or have a bus from the ski town up to the lodge proper.

[@mrxman581]

The live stream was too short. It was flying at HSR speeds. 😊 A lot of good information though, thanks

[@CJbrinkman602]

It’s a live premiere, not a live stream

[@mrxman581]

@CJbrinkman602 Right. I misspoke. Still, my main point was that it was too short though

[@osmanhossain676]

Dumbarton Rail Corridor and SV BART to Santa Clara, CA.😮

[@Be_a_Pineapple]

Milbrae will be critical stop as it is a hub to Caltrain to Bart. Transferring here can get you to San Francisco international airport via Bart.

[@TheAZPro-yi8bu]

Once Brightline HSR is in business, citizens will be clamoring for CHSR. Keep in mid, BL is heavily subsidized by Federal Interstate 15 right of way (and $3 Billion in Federal aid), whereas CHSR has to purchase the right of way which is time-consuming and expensive.

[@outerspacelocation]

God I hope they extend that Portland to Seattle brightline stuff down to Salem and Eugene. It would save so much money and time for college students like me, and potentially make it so that students who live in state won't have to own a car!

[@osmanhossain676]

I always love California High-Speed Rail in California and I always love California High-Speed Rail in California.😮

[@tspryaviation]

I would love to see any possible updates regarding the San Diego extension of CAHSR (ik it's probably not going to be built judging by how long it took to get to where we are now) but as a San Diegan who relies on the Surfline and the fact that the Surfline is in jeopardy due to bluff erosion, I would like to know if the CAHSR authority has any unabandoned plans to make an alternative way to get to LA and beyond.

[@AmpereBEEP]

I will be getting to Phase 2(CAHSR to Sacramento and San Diego) very soon , so stay tuned on that one. In terms of plans for the Surf line, I will be getting to that as well in the future.

[@davidjackson7281]

@@AmpereBEEPWonder if about $5 B for Surfliner tunnels, erosion protection, and double tracking could improve the speed to average 80 mph for a 2 hour trip from LA to SD.

[@AmpereBEEP]

@@davidjackson7281 With the time savings that SANDAG calculated for their improvments, we will save about 20-30 minutes(2hr33min resulting travel time). Not enough to get us to an 80mph average or a 2 hour travel time, but a really good improvement within San Diego County. The easiest way to get the average speed higher(and thus travel time lower) would be to run a limited or nonstop service. By eliminating all but 2 stops (Oceanside and Anaheim), we can reduce the trip time by somewhere in the ballpark of 40 minutes(assuming 5min per stop). This would put us at 2hr23min which is a huge improvement. Unfortunately, Amtrak did run a nonstop service from LA to San Diego about a decade ago and it got poor ridership, so we probably have around a decade until transit connectivity and access is good enough to generate the demand needed for a service like that to be successful. Specifically once the LA Metro D Line extension is fully completed and opened in 2028, we should see a huge bump in ridership. With the LinkUS project, I would expect us to see an additional 3-5min time savings just as a result of not needing to back in and out of the station anymore.

[@davidjackson7281]

@@AmpereBEEPWas too high with the 80 mph average speed projection for the 120 mile route. Should be an average speed of 60 mph. With about say $5 B of track upgrades and improvements a :30 reduction plus a :30 savings for an express would be a two hour ride which I think we agree on. Pehaps a two stop express would succeed where the direct non-stop ride did not. The Pacific Surfliner needs to average better than 40 mph.

[@AmpereBEEP]

@@davidjackson7281 Absolutely. Another thing they definitely need to do is run the trains much later at night, even if it only comes once every 2 hours. That would allow myself and others to travel to LA for an event and then return without the need to drive.

[@almightysosa3007]

I can’t wait for the day I can bike from my house to the Anaheim station and hop on a train to LA or San Francisco.

[@jonathandowling7311]

@18:38 "roughly 400 miles per hour" I think you mean 400 kilometres per hour! There is no train anywhere in existence that can travel at 400 mph.

[@davidjackson7281]

Upon relistening he said the 'curve' was such that it could accomodate a train speed of 400 mph "if there was such". Meaning the curve is so wide it's "nearly straight".

[@Jdogg4089]

I'm in Modesto, not a big City and a pretty poor city, but it's a decent sized City. I was hoping maybe we could get some type of passenger rail from here to Merced to connect to HSR, but it is very unlikely to happen and all of the very limited funding goes to freeways and roads. Public transport in this City is not very good at all. We recently got a new bypass built that flys over SR-99 and is supposed to get direct freeway access in phase 2 with a flyover ramp. In this current phase it is 2 lanes (1 lane each direction) with a planned expansion to 4 lanes a few years from now. I wish they would put more money into improving public transit. I guess in reality there would not be enough demand to warrant building rail infrastructure on this City and the city is not designed to be transit oriented like 99% of Cities across the country. I guess since I myself can't drive (medically can't drive), I am a lot more interested in transit oriented developers l. I have been following the CAHSR since I was 15 in 2015 and have always been very optimistic about it even when there were rumors of it being cancelled in 2019. I'm really excited to see where this project goes!

[@davidjackson7281]

CAHSR should go up to Modesto which is five times larger than Merced. ACE route should be upgraded so trips to SJ & SF are faster.

[@davidjackson7281]

@@Jdogg4089Yes CAHSR in essense is outside of the lifetime of those born before 2000. But the slow progress will be perversely entertaining.

[@Jdogg4089]

@@davidjackson7281 I was born after 2000 but phase 2 is still likely beyond my lifetime.

[@michaelinnes2754]

Both ACE and San Joaquins should have service between Modesto and Merced in 2030.

[@Jdogg4089]

@@michaelinnes2754 Modesto does have Amtrak and that goes North to San Joaquin and south to Bakersfield. But yeah, I did look at the ACE extension

[@gdrriley420]

I’m still very meh on the Brisbane light maintenance facility and keeping Caltrains. Both could fit around communications hill and given how more trains will start/end in SJ that seems more useful Given they are using the most limited lau to Fullerton capacity I expect they run trains all the way to Oceanside not ending in Anaheim

[@TheJttv]

I think you can get to some of the ski resorts in Japan by rail. Not sure if its HSR

[@anthonysnyder1152]

Am I understanding that the high speed rail has to pay for improving highways? The highways get $20b every year. Use that budget… it inflates the budget of the high speed rail and makes it seem more expensive despite a good chunk of the cost going to highway improvements

[@alexhu7939]

So much info, so much waiting! When will we ever ride this HSR? from LA to SF?

[@darynvoss7883]

Nice work. One thing I haven't seen discussed much is the possibility of a station in the Los Banos area. It's not a huge city but looking to the future it would easily be a more prominent dormitory settlement for Bay area workers. It is also likely that the Merced to Los Banos segment would be complete before those Pacheco Pass tunnels.

[@davidjackson7281]

For some reason the Sierra Club opposed a Los Banos station. Pacheco Pass is a mistake. CAHSR would serve more through the Altamont Pass and through Modesto. No need to build through 'sensitive' open space when a less expensive ROW of the same distance already exists.

[@darynvoss7883]

@davidjackson7281 I have to admit, when the estimates for Pacheco pass started to come out, I did wonder whether that idea should be reviewed. e.g. a new tunnel or bridge from SF to Oakland area then use the Capitol Corridor (upgraded) to say Martinez station, then a new HSR line from Martinez to Stockton. Anything to avoid the sticker shock of those damned tunnels.

[@davidjackson7281]

@@darynvoss7883There has been some consideration towards the shortcut of re-routing the San Joaquins through Franklin Canyon Hwy 4 on Sante Fe ROW to Stockton. The Bay Bridge had lower deck trains until 1958. Would like to see the Dumbarton Rail Bridge rebuiilt for the SF connection via the Altamont Pass to south of Stockton. Caltrain, CAHSR, ACE, and Amtrak could use it.

[@TohaBgood2]

@@darynvoss7883 The Bay Bridges are at least 10x more expensive than the tunnels and slower.

[@darynvoss7883]

@TohaBgood2 the Pacheco tunnel is going to cost 15 billion dollars. You're telling me a new bay bridge is going to cost 150 billion dollars.

[@theamazinghippopotomonstro9942]

Maybe by the 22nd century, we can see it connected to a future northwest line so we have service from Seattle to Los Angeles

[@michaeljones7927]

Really great video, sir, but PLEASE SLOW DOWN. Your rapid fire delivery is definitely counterproductive. Too much material to be absorbed at one time, given your very rapid speech. Your videos are excellent. Can't wait for the next one. Thank you for your effort.

[@Urbanhandyman]

You can play the video at .75 speed under SETTINGS. It sounds "normal" to me at that rate.

[@michaeljones7927]

@@Urbanhandyman Thank you.

[@malcolmmccaskill2311]

Is there scope to reduce the costs of the tunnelled sections by initially using single track? This is how Brightline have made the Florida and Las Vegas projects feasible. Start with a timetable of (say) hourly services into San Fransisco and LA, and determine which sections could be single track. The current double track to Bakersfield could obviously serve both stopping and express services. Or are the plans for large-bore tunnels capable of taking double track?

[@AmpereBEEP]

A single track tunnelled section would actually be more expensive over the long run rather than just constructing them both at the same time for a variety of reasons. There needs to be a concrete plant running to produce the precast panels for them as well as the excavation needed to build the tunnel portals themselves. You would likely increase the cost overall by 25-40% per tunnel over building it all at once, as well as add at potentially years to the construction timeline and a huge bottleneck for service frequency while you wait for the second tunnels to be constructed. Brightline had the benefit of being almost entirely above grade with the exception of a single ~625ft long tunnel which was not bored and supported 2 tracks from Day 1. CAHSR will be dealing with TBM's and tunnels as much as 10-13mi in length. They have been looking at single bore tunnels that are wide enough for 2 tracks, but the cost differences between single and dual bore have not yet been determined as designwork has not commenced on any tunneled sections yet.

[@malcolmmccaskill2311]

I agree now that large bore tunnels are certainly better for HSR from an aerodynamic drag perspective. I don't recall any single bore tunnels on the parts of the Japanese HSR network that I've travelled.@@AmpereBEEP

[@JOHNSMITH-dc6lr]

Hypothetically say a billionaire wanted to parter w the chsra, he or she would cover the remaking cost of the entire project, this person would require 247 construction.. Has all land been aquired? What would have to be done? This partner would want construction started at every station

[@junkscience6397]

So....how much have they spent so far? Ballpark figure? And how much over is that from original estimates? Thanks.

[@AmpereBEEP]

So far, around $11B, which is about $4B over their original estimate for the current segment.

[@davidjackson7281]

@@AmpereBEEPWow. Did not know $11 B was so far off the mark.

[@logan758]

Where did you find those gis maps, I cant find them on the CAHSR website anywhere? its all just crappy documents

[@AmpereBEEP]

The ones for Northern California are up under the San Jose to Merced Project Section on the website, while the other maps I found by looking up "Project Section Name Interactive Map"

[@StefanWithTrains]

I think Brightline will shift it's focus on helping CHSR to get build after they finish building Rancho-Las Vegas.

[@TohaBgood2]

Brightline itself is 2x delayed on its 2020-2024 construction schedule. Building actual HSR is veeeeeeeery different from slightly upgrading freight track and building 20 miles of single track ROW in an existing highway corridor.

[@davidjackson7281]

Brightline in Florida continues to be a success story. Ridership will reach 2 million this year and up to 3 million next year. The average speed has improved to 77 mph from West Palm to Orlando. There are discounted fares for only $29.50. CAHSR is on its own. Brghtline's focus is to start building BLW and extentions to Tampa and Jacksonville. Perhaps Cascadia in the distant future.

[@_mball_]

The fact that SF DTX isn't really sorted yet should be mildly concerning. I thought there was going to need to be a lot of work to resolve the 22nd Street to Caltrain segment. Have they given up on the realignment? I say mildly concerning because downtown SF to CalTrain really isn't that bad. Both the T and N lines work fine now, and any form of HSR making its way to the city will be great. The density around 4th and king is also increasing!

[@davidjackson7281]

Let's spend billions on a new station and not have any trains. Brilliant. A 1.7 mile tunnel would only cost $6.7 Billion. Sorry but "mildly concerning" is a gross understatement.

[@madmadmal]

A lot of the estimates in this video are based upon final plans. For example the SF to Gilroy timing to meet goals requires a lot of realignment of the current CalTrain tracks. Until then the speeds are going to be lower and are going to increase travel times. This project competing with the airlines from the the Bay Area to LA area are not going to be competitive with the airline service. Currently the HSR fare estimates may compete with the downtown SF or SJ to LA or Burbank airline service but are not time-wise comparable to service by airlines time-wise. When Oakland, Ontario, and Santa Ana are considered within the mix HSR cannot compare to both fares and times. Once the initial Bakersfield to Merced trains start there will be no ridership projection that is remotely possible to be profitable.

[@norwegianblue2017]

Remind me again why they didn't start this in Los Angeles and run down I-5 to San Diego and the international border with Mexico? Nah, much better to start way inland in the middle of nowhere. Why would you want to connect the two biggest cities in the state in a flat, straight line?

[@TohaBgood2]

I-5 is a ridiculous alignment that was studied and rejected. It's too slow if you stay in the highway median (Brightline West has under 10% of actual HSR track planned in their highway median alignment.) And if you stay close to the highway but not in the median then you get the exact same type of alignment that they are currently building along the Hwy 99, with the exact same issues. The I-5 alignment is longer than the Hwy 99 chosen one unless you tunnel under the Grapevine. That monster Grapevine tunnel was priced at than the entire Phase 1, so that's a no-go. If you use the I-5 but still cross at Tehachapi then you end up with a longer and more expensive alignment than the much more direct chosen Hwy 99 ROW. And, the cherry on top, the I-5 alignment excludes the 4.3 million people living in the metros with stops on the current alignment. Not only would this be illegal (yes, literally illegal under the state constitution) under the passed Prop 1A referendum funding the project, but would also undermine the economic viability of the whole system.

[@norwegianblue2017]

@@TohaBgood2 Funny, because going down the I-5 was recommended by Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF), the French state-owned rail consultant that California brought in in the beginning. They left in disgust at the disarray of dealing with California government and built a train in Morocco instead. You got that? The train is already built! Tell me how it makes sense to go inland 60 miles to San Bernadino and then another 90 miles down to San Diego rather than just finish the route from Anaheim which would be about 90 miles in total? The train would have to run 70% faster to make up the difference.

[@TohaBgood2]

@@norwegianblue2017 Nope. That is an urban legend made up by one of Ralph Vartebedian's oil lobby buddies, that he then propagated without showing as much as a single source. This myth was born on some random guy's personal blog. And many people still think that that guy was just Ralph Vartabedian himself writing under a pseudonym to fabricate a cool story. SNCF wasn't even one of the bidders on any CAHSR projects! How would they know to comment on something that they didn't even work on directly? SNCF merely contributed a small technical team to a consortium of French companies pre-bidding for CAHSR design-build contracts. They were required to produce three plans for three at the time potential routes including the current Hwy 99 version and the I-5 version. The French team explicitly did not state a preference for any of the three routes. The initial route study was merely a formality for them to continue to participate in the bidding. And the French team did such a poor job of these pre-bid activities that they were eventually disqualified/not selected. A Spanish HSR team actually ended up winning a bid in their place (Dragados - CP4).

[@Urbanhandyman]

What comes next? More endless waiting. More reports of funding problems. More videos from California High Speed Rail congratulating themselves for completing a tiny portion of the overall work. And even more endless waiting.

[@TohaBgood2]

Your boys completely failed in trying to slow down and cancel CAHSR. They are actually at their fastest construction pace right now. So cope and seethe quietly in the corner as CAHSR gets built.

[@Urbanhandyman]

@@TohaBgood2 You are angry at the wrong person. I fully support high speed rail. What I don't support is how California has mismanaged its version since 1996.

[@TohaBgood2]

@@Urbanhandyman Your opinions are indistinguishable form those of a typical anti-rail concern troll. We see you people commenting under CAHSR videos all the time and you come with the same fake Koch Brothers workshopped numbers and points. You all say the same things in the same order. If you're not an anti-rail troll then why do you sound exactly like one? Do you think that we don't understand that over 80% of the delays come from land battles funded by Republican non-profits? Come on, bud.

[@Urbanhandyman]

@@TohaBgood2 I have no idea what, "...the same fake Koch Brothers workshopped numbers and points," means. There are no numbers in my original post. I'm for high speed rail but I'm against incompetent management. Please direct your anger elsewhere.

[@TohaBgood2]

@@Urbanhandyman What "incompetent management" exactly are you talking about? Are you implying that CAHSR was delayed not because of all the land lawsuits blocking construction and causing cascading delays, or by the local Republican governments deliberately delaying various permits for years at a time, but by some internal CAHSR issue? Ok, what's your proof for any of that? Where did you get the "incompetent management" from? Who made that assessment? Did you make it up or did Ralph Vartabedian whisper that in your ear?

[@rearspeaker6364]

won't be needed, if no one is there!

[@LucidStew]

I wondering how you're able to say definitively that the IOS WILL be open in 2030. What are you basing that on? Even the Authority itself is unsure enough to give a 2030-2033 range.

[@TohaBgood2]

The same way to you are able to say that will NOT be open by 2030. What are you basing your ludicrous conclusions on? I understand that you're trying to surf the anti-CAHSR wave, but let's not pretend like you are anything but biased against this project. You have a multi-year youtube comment history to prove otherwise. Even if you are more careful about spouting outright anti-rail propaganda in your videos vs your comments, we all still know what your positions are on this project.

[@davidjackson7281]

The way l see it every $ billion less received from the $8 billion in federal grant requests extends the 2030 opening by a year assuming funding from cap and trade of a $ billion per year is extended by the legislature. There appears to be a critical 2025-2028 timeline for the civil work on the 52 miles of extentions plus constructing five stations. Do you know what percentage of the extention parcels have been acquired thus far?

[@LucidStew]

@@TohaBgood2 For one thing I DIDNT say it wouldn't. I asked a question. I didn't bother to read anything else you had to say.

[@TohaBgood2]

@@LucidStew Yeah, bud, that's called concern trolling. And that's your entire contribution to the CAHSR conversation.

[@LucidStew]

@@TohaBgood2 It's just logic. Your assertion was false, so there was no reason bothering with what followed from it. Your arguments are generally full of logical fallacies be it straw men, ad hominem attacks, false dichotomy... it makes it difficult to take you seriously even without you being outright wrong. But thanks for watching.

[@stephenLarson-vs7fu]

So, let´s see. The whole line was supposed to be open in 2020 and now we´re told maybe 2030. Hmmm.

[@richardrose2606]

More likely 2033.

[@daniellewis1789]

Yes, that tends to happen when NIMBYs sue you. Drives up costs, slows down progress.

[@davidjackson7281]

Maybe Bakersfield by 2033. Whole line perhaps by 2063.

[@TohaBgood2]

@@davidjackson7281 Source? Or are you just making crap up again?

[@jeffnelson4489]

500$ ticket from Bakersfield forget it

[@tonyburzio4107]

Nothing comes next, California will cancel this pig.

[@TohaBgood2]

You have been posting this about CAHSR for at least 5 years. You lost, bud. Take the L and move to Texas.

[@arvindkatiyar526]

Anything below 200km per hour cannot be defined as high speed even here in my country high speed is above 200km per hour

[@michaelberger8137]

Main take-away from this video... clearly the Greater Sacramento area will cease to exist after the year 2030.

[@caleblaw3497]

I think we are wasting a lot of money to bring the high speed rail into the downtown area of Central Valley cities like Fresno and Bakersfield and Merced. Instead I'd prefer building closer to the I-5 corridor and serves those cities by building regular-speed spur lines. It is similar to having "Shin Osaka" and "Shin Yokohama" stations, we can have "Shin" Fresno, "Shin" Bakersfield, etc.

[@michaeljones7927]

With all due respect, your preference regarding routing is irrelevant at this point in time. California HSR is being constructed from Madera to Fresno to Bakersfield (Shafter), and that's not going to change. The I-5 route would have cost a lot less to build (for various reasons), but it's too late to make a change.. Billions have been spent and track laying is not too far off, and in a few years the Central Valley will have the first true high speed rail service in North America

[@TohaBgood2]

@@michaeljones7927 "The I-5 route would have cost a lot less to build". Nope. The I-5 alignment still needed to curve east to cross at Tehachapi pass so length-wise it was actually longer. There was another option workshopped for a Grapevine crossing, but that would have resulted in a monster tunnel that would have cost more than all of the current plan for Phase 1. Needless to say, that idea was dropped pretty quickly. So in reality, going over the I-5 you get a slightly higher cost but miss over 4.3 million customers. It's a completely pointless alignment idea. And yes, with the Hwy 99 alignment at about 80% completion, it's very much too late to even look at other routes. They're almost done building the current alignment. This conversation is at least a decade late.

[@michaeljones7927]

@@TohaBgood2 I agree completely. The infrastructure project in the Central Valley is almost complete and nearly ready for track laying. This is the chosen route for CAHSR and it will be complete in a few years, and ready for testing.

[@Jdogg4089]

Oh boy, here we go again...

[@Jdogg4089]

​@@TohaBgood2Yes, what you said! I had no idea how involved the I-5 route was actually going to be until I saw Banks Rail video that briefly talked about it. There is a lot I didn't know about HSR as someone who has been following the project since I was 15 back in 2015 and these HSR videos from these various transit channels have opened my eyes on details I didn't know or didn't understand. I started watching these kinds of KZbin videos, started watching the project financial reports this year, and I'm started to research the project, whereas previously I would only view the project through construction updates and various poorly written articles.

[@MrMarkOlson]

Your extremely biased opinion about why housing in the Bay Area is expensive would be better left out of this presentation.

[@JackKack-kk5dd]

It isn't biased tho. The Bay Area refuses to build new housing, so housing is expensive. It's as simple as that

[@MrMarkOlson]

@@JackKack-kk5dd You are clearly not in the SF Bay Area. There is construction literally everywhere.

[@JackKack-kk5dd]

@MrMarkOlson SF is the NIMBY capital of the US dog. Again, by and large the Bay Area refuses to build housing. That's why housing is so expensive. It's just that simple.

[@TohaBgood2]

@@MrMarkOlson Nope. I am a Bay Area native. We have had extremely little construction in most of the Bay since the mid 70s. We basically stopped building almost completely after 1977. While other metros like Phoenix, Austin, and Seattle have been adding housing at a healthy rate, we've basically blocked everything. Only a few luxury buildings are built every year. That's completely pathetic for a region with about 10 million people. This is not how a normal 10 million population metro works. This is not sustainable. People need places to live. We need to build a normal amount of housing or this will continue being a massive problem.

[@MrMarkOlson]

@@TohaBgood2 First: I have lived in the Bay Area for 64 years. Second: The Bay Area population is 7.75 million. SF STILL has construction on nearly every other block anyone can see as one drives around. The construction crane was jokingly declared "The SF City Bird" a few short years ago because there were so many of them constructing skyscrapers (including housing, which is why there is now a glut of condos). Newsflash: The land value in the Bay Area will never be anywhere near as cheap as that of Phoenix or Austin, and thank Jesus we don't have their lack of zoning or we'd look as bleak as them. The Bay Area is EXTREMELY desirable on a world-wide level because of 1) the job opportunities and 2) the WEATHER, which is milder than most anywhere else. If you could build 3 million housing units overnight, there would be a dip in prices, but it wouldn't be long before prices would be right back up to current levels. The only answer for those who do not own their own home is more government-assisted affordable rental housing, and first time home-buyer under-market programs. I bought a condo in 1987 in SF under one such program for 2/3 of market rate. Those programs are where the most results for people who need housing will be seen. Also, an added tax on those who buy up homes to only do short-term hotels would be also helpful to discourage that behavior. Also, ad added tax on rich people who own homes they neither rent out long term nor live in would be helpful.

[@Da__goat]

Just keeping the Central Valley segment and never spending $100 billion on 200 miles of rail in the middle of a desert ever again, tf