Can California’s High-Speed Rail Ever Be Completed? (2024 Project Update)

[@f-86zoomer37]

Fun fact: CAHSR has had far more environmental review lawsuits than SoFi stadium (had ZERO) which is roughly 70% covered in asphalt parking lots.

[@mattpotter8725]

I think there are vested interests in slowing down this project and possibly making it such that it never gets completed at all.

[@mrfeicco]

@@mattpotter8725 Yeah... the Airlines XD

[@IONATVS]

@@mrfeicco And car companies. Heck, Elon Musk has flat-out admitted the entire reason he proposed the Hyperloop gadgetbahn was to kill CAHSR.

[@jason94095]

CAHSR’s scope is a little bit larger than SoFi.

[@IONATVS]

@@jason94095 True, but it is still telling that a private, car-centric, sports venue USING public funds and heavy-handed land acquisition mechanisms gets less scrutiny than even very small legs of a public, environmentally conscious project like CAHSR through similarly valuable urban land.

[@ramonalfaro3252]

I remember people telling me there would never be a subway in Los Angeles again. Been riding it for about 34 years now.

[@DonGivani]

I hope one day I can experience that in LA as well. TBH is nothing compared to Hong Kong, Tokyo, London,Madrid, Berlin or Paris. And the latest additions are taking like ages to complete

[@tonyburzio4107]

Does your Subway travel through Perris? Now you know whats wrong with CHSR.

[@stlgdroidst]

It's not really a subway in LA anymore, more like underground homeless camps.

[@ramonalfaro3252]

@@stlgdroidst Still better than shithole flyover states.

[@ramonalfaro3252]

@@stlgdroidst What does it say about other states that people would rather be homeless in California than move to shithole Red States???

[@realadrieno]

The general public DOES want high speed rail, but those who DON’T (so the auto and oil industries), have the money to block the project. And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the problem with our society.

[@IONATVS]

And rich suburbs full of NIMBYs, upset that CA isn't just bulldozing the next door poor neighborhoods like they did for the Interstates for silly reasons like "it's a faster route that will do less overall damage to the environment and population of our state, while better serving that same population at large"! Wouldn't want to forget them and their parade of thousands of frivolous lawsuits!

[@joetrey215]

What leads you to conclude that the oil industry cares whether high-speed rail is built?

[@sergiucodina196]

​​@@joetrey215well, it would replace a lot of trips made by car in California, but most importantly, it would set a precedent for other states to start build new HSR and potentially replace even more trips that are currently made by cars. And we all know that in the US the car industry has a lot to say about what s being built and what s not

[@AllenGraetz]

Any notion that HSR isn't happening because of some nefarus actors is tin foil hat stuff. Cali HSR to be built from LA to San Fran with 100% HSR will cost $200B. Just lil ol Dallas to Houston is looking to cost $40B. Steel wheels on steel rail is a wonderful tech to reduce friction. Growing the speed exponentially raises the costs of what was already a resource intensive tech.

[@joetrey215]

@sergiucodina196 The oil industry has bigger things to worry about. Do you have any evidence of the oil industry opposing HSR?

[@LuckyFlanker13]

Minor error, on 9:10, 9:24 and some later maps, you misaligned the route of the northern part of CAHSR (caltrain).

[@TheGreatPOD]

I was going to point that out myself. Thank you for your capture of it but yeah, the alignment is going up to Eastbay San Francisco and supposed to the Peninsula in the San Francisco. As another note the electric trains running on Caltrans traffic San Jose in San Francisco is actually in revenue service now sure

[@mintydewdrops]

@@TheGreatPOD yep!! also HSR does plan on stopping at Milbrae-SFO so that stop's completely been missed

[@malagasylisa1680]

@@mintydewdropsreally? I had no idea. What a great idea. Thank you.

[@onetwothreeabc]

If something needs the "consensus" of American people, it can never be done.

[@jason94095]

So I guess we’ve never voted for president?

[@onetwothreeabc]

@@jason94095 You don't need "consensus" to elect a president. You just need 270 electoral vote. Totally different from "consensus".

[@jason94095]

@@onetwothreeabc 👏👏👏

[@ramonalfaro3252]

I remember people telling me there would never be a subway in Los Angeles again. Been riding it for about 34 years now.

[@f-86zoomer37]

@@ramonalfaro3252 well if you want to use the actual definitions of subway, it took like 40 years for LA to finally build one. But it's not a new line. It's an old line that was supposed to get built, but never got built because of nimby boomers. Sorry expo line, K line, you are not real subways. you are light rail. LA should not be having light rail given how many people live there.

[@samsam21amb]

The bureaucracy is so bad… if funding was committed and guaranteed from the start and environmental reviews weren’t so vigorous or bad, maybe this project could be half way through completion.

[@khlaps]

California is starting to die and our Democrats don’t care

[@LuckyFlanker13]

As a native californian and supporter of the project, I agree. NEPA is abused to slow down the project, and the private funding part of prop 1A was one of the silliest decisions that ever could’ve been made.

[@MarxistNurse]

Even then, phase one is well over half way complete and this is set to become America’s first truly high speed rail lines operating by the end of this decade

[@dwc1964]

@@LuckyFlanker13 *Thank you* for mentioning the deliberate abuse of NEPA! In all of the discussion of CAHSR lamenting how long it's taking & how much it's costing, including from supporters of the project, I _never_ hear anyone talk about how, the moment Prop 1A passed, opponents of the project started filing lawsuits for the sole purpose of delaying the project and driving up its cost, _just so_ they could then use the delays and cost overruns _they caused_ as an argument for canceling the project altogether. And the obsession with the "public-private partnership" model has screwed up so many public works projects ... it's the neoliberal belief that government can't do anything (only private business can), and so they refuse to do the things they insist government can't do when they're in government, just to prove themselves right. The money, the resources, the personnel and technical expertise, all exist - we just need to avail ourselves of them.

[@mattpotter8725]

Whilst I agree with the premise of having the funding there from the start on such a long project I think decisions on how public money is spent does need to be done as the project progresses. If California has saved up the $120bn price tag for the project before even starting the project it would never have been started to have been built. I do think expecting private investors to stump up for this project in the amount suggested was never realistic, in the end it's the federal government that will have to pay for some of the cost with the rest borne by California, which will obviously delay the project, which due to inflation will increase the cost. I can understand why the project was started in the Central Valley but it does need to be connected up to San Francisco at least by 2030, even if this means not running it all the way into the center of the city but to say the BART system at San Jose maybe, whilst the rest is built.

[@TheLiamster]

If only construction started in 2008 and went ahead with zero delays and full funding then both phases would likely be complete by 2028 in time for the LA Olympics

[@MarxistNurse]

@@kevink7529the construction itself doesn’t take that long, it’s all the hoops capitalists set up for any public works projects that will help people save money bc to them, that means they lose money. It’s a very evil system designed to be shitty like this, just look at China, in the same timeframe since 2008 they’ve been able to expand high speed rail to every major city in their huge country and theyre still rapidly improving/expanding, this is what communist governments can deliver for the people

[@f-86zoomer37]

It's absolutely shameful we can't get the SF to LA section done on time, even with the pressure of LA 28 Olympics, there is zero political will to do it. There is literally zero political will to even electrify parts of Metrolink that have very busy ridership, and there is zero will to build the Sepulveda metro line

[@MarxistNurse]

@@kevink7529 just look how many high-speed rail lines China was able to construct in the same time frame

[@mattpotter8725]

​@@MarxistNurseThere is a train why China can built railways so quickly - you can just throw people off their land without any recourse and the state can pump money into infrastructure projects without anyone being able to question whether the money would be better spent elsewhere. I'm sure it is possible to have built this project quicker than is now being estimated but not by going down the China route.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@f-86zoomer37there is absolutely will to build the Sepulveda Line, as well as CAHSR. In regards to the former, blame the rich NIMBYs in Bel Air/Sherman Oaks who have been doing all they can to hold up the project and keep pushing for Metro to consider the monorail option over the vastly more popular heavy rail subway option that a vast majority of the public are pushing for.

[@f-86zoomer37]

We can't just have high speed rail in a vacuum. We need to either upgrade, expand, or build out entirely new regional electrified rail and mass transit around the cities and stations we want to connect. That means an actual subway in Las Vegas, a conversion of the San Bernardino line to fully electrified high speed rail to connect Union station LA with Las Vegas directly, conversion to electric and double tracking of all metrolink lines. Most importantly, all-day train schedules with 15-20 minute headways. Who's going to take a train when they have to wait 1 hour or even longer as some lines only run in the morning and evening.

[@AllenGraetz]

There's absolutely none of this that is "needed".

[@f-86zoomer37]

@@AllenGraetz why not? you like sitting in traffic, dealing with road ragers, paying like $8000 annually to maintain your car and breathing in pollution and microplastics? is your decadent lifestyle worth the over 65,000 Americans who die every year due to bad drivers hitting them? Oh how about climate change and rising sea levels? Is it absolutely terrible that our cities are dead after 6pm because they're utterly unwalkable, less safe because of freeway overpasses? is that good for our economy? is that good for small businesses when car centric lifestyle only incentivizes big box stores, who control most of the market share and drive up prices for everyone because of how greedy they are? Is it even freedom when 90% of Americans are forced into automobile microtransactions in order to participate in society? If your answer is yes to any of these, you're truly a ghoul and you're truly evil if you derive any enjoyment from suffering and the damage you do to our planet. Funny how you don't give a damn about the damage your lifestyle does, but suddenly when people can take affordable rapid transit you get ticked off? It offends you that poor people have economic mobility, level playing fields?

[@mrxman581]

Metrolink is going through a significant upgrade. They are increasing frequencies among other changes. Electrification will also happen, but funding is an issue that affects timeliness. California needs more federal funding to make these improvements happen faster. The other issue are the private freight railroad companies who own the shared ROWs closer to city centers. They keep fighting electrification.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@mrxman581 has Metrolink showed any interest in electrification though? Latest I’ve seen is they’re focused on hydrogen and batteries. They don’t seem to show any desire in going electric anytime soon, even with CAHSR’s eventual arrival between Burbank and Anaheim.

[@f-86zoomer37]

@@mrxman581 frequencies are being increased on SOME lines. No, you are completely wrong about Metrolink electrification. There are ZERO plans to electrify any line on metrolink. You can speculate that the success of the Caltrain electrification will create more push for that, but I need to see a concrete plan put out and on what lines they want to do it, not just some talk. Private freight don’t care about electrification. It’s Metrolink who does not want to do it. In fact private rail is completely fine with it because electrification means free track upgrades for them.

[@DavidScotton]

The electrification of the Caltrain corridor is exciting because it's the first tangible benefit we'll see from this project. In less than a month we're going to have significantly faster commuter trains between San Jose and San Francisco.

[@notisac3149]

Not just faster trains, but a better weekend schedule. Once the new schedule goes into effect, most stations will see a train every half hour instead of every hour. That's still not a great frequency, but massive improvement. I also hope they start running express trains on the weekend as well some day.

[@KaneYork]

Half hour frequency is good enough that you're not completely suffering when you miss a train

[@PHXPlanespotter]

@@DavidScotton how does electrifying the rail make it faster? Still runs on the same tracks to the same stations??? Just wondering

[@DavidScotton]

@@PHXPlanespotter The electric cars can accelerate and decelerate faster. Each car has its own propulsion instead of being pulled by a locomotive.

[@collinkemp7808]

At 4:12 the map contains several inaccuracies. The segment under construction is only 117 miles long from Madera to Shafter. 171 miles refers to the Initial Operating Segment (Initial Operating Segment) which includes the two Advanced Design segments north into Merced and South into Bakersfield. The CPs are mislabeled - they should be labeled CP 1, CP 2/3, and CP 4. The 4 stations in development are Merced, Fresno, Kings/Tulare (near Hanford), and Bakersfield. There is a fifth HSR station in development in Madera but that is a project by another rail authority (San Joaquin JPA) which will operate the IOS from Merced to Bakersfield. That JPA is planning and delivering the stop in Madera but it's not part of the CHSR project. Also at 9:19 as others have mentioned the alignment will travel along the Caltrain alignment through the San Mateo peninsula and NOT through the East Bay.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

*119 miles currently under construction, between Avenue 19 in Madera and Poplar Avenue north of Shafter. Civil construction for the Bakersfield extension is now funded, so construction south of Poplar Avenue should be starting up in the next year or so, likely starting with the six grade separation projects in Shafter that are also funded. The Madera-Merced segment is awaiting funding, which CAHSR is pursuing additional IIJA grants totaling $4.7 billion for. That total amount will also fill the funding gap for the remainder of the Merced-Bakersfield segment, which has a total estimated price tag of roughly $35 billion, $28 billion of which has been secured so far and $12-13 billion of that has been spent. That amount includes everything needed to get revenue high speed train service going by 2030-33.

[@PacificNatureTV]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc this is the robust kind of info ppl need!

[@thejamesingram]

why be accurate when you could just be a hater instead

[@tsepheletseka5115]

You would think with the Olympics in LA fast approaching that would motivate the powers that be to work a little faster to ensure that at least part of the line is up and running by then.

[@tonyburzio4107]

You mean to Bakersfield.

[@PHXPlanespotter]

How's that gonna help??? The line doesn't even go to LA.

[@okankyoto]

Theres no way- LA connection is looking like 2040 and involves at least 6-8 years of drilling tunnels that have not yet been designed.

[@PHXPlanespotter]

@okankyoto honestly, I don't think it will ever get finished...the planning for this track is laughable to say the leasr

[@nathanmohn4272]

A lot of money is going to upgrading LAX land side access, which it desperately needs. It can take over an hour to drive around the horseshoe (World Way) which is less than 2 miles.

[@barryrobbins7694]

“…if only there was a will and the consensus among the American society…” That was very polite.😀

[@keithstewart7514]

Thank you (new sub) for the very fair & insightful information! As a 60 yo lifetime resident of Bakersfield California the potential for MYSELF to have ridden or to have utilized High Speed Rail I'm able to sustain long term hope. Being taught about climate change in the late 70's and experiencing a whole lot of NOTHING TOWARDS what was a slippery slope back then... Has now passed the point of any real change (to little to late).

[@philipkudrna5643]

Seems the future of this Channel is secured! 😂

[@thastayapongsak4422]

You know a rail channel made it when it's sponsored by a train building contractor lol

[@jayaujo9904]

All videos have a sponsor and it's usually related to the subject matter.

[@osmanhossain676]

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

[@onetwothreeabc]

And the funding should only come from California.

[@ramonalfaro3252]

I remember people telling me there would never be a subway in Los Angeles again. Been riding it for about 34 years now.

[@TransRightsTrains]

@@onetwothreeabc Here's an idea, cut military funds by 90% and send it to several infrastructure projects around the country.

[@onetwothreeabc]

@@TransRightsTrains I’m not against this idea. Go ahead.

[@nativeamerican8069]

Troll

[@mrxman581]

Very well done. And it's refreshing to see a video that speaks to the lack of needed federal funding for HSR in the USA.

[@tonyburzio4107]

It didn't get the funding because it was wasting every single penny.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@mrxman581 always love seeing your comments on these kinds of videos

[@thastayapongsak4422]

@@tonyburzio4107 as opposed to the wasteful and unnecessary wars in the middle east.

[@mrxman581]

​@@ChrisJones-gx7fcReally? You made my day! I didn't think anyone would pay that kind of attention to my comments. I'm truly humbled. I try to be fair and objective, but it doesn't always happen. Next time I feel an indignant rage swelling up, I'm going to take a breath and tell myself, "hey, remember, Chris might read this."😊

[@rppacademic]

It would be wasted because it would only be used to make private landowners rich.

[@stevens1041]

The map shows HSR going along the East Bay, even though it should be going along the peninsula.

[@kilodeltaeight]

Some additional details that were missing: - CalTrain’s new FLIRT EMU’s are in service now, and a fully electric schedule will begin in September, drastically increasing service across the corridor. - AB 2503, which exempts rail transit projects like CalHSR from the State environmental review law, has passed both houses of the legislature and is expected to be signed into law. Projects will still need to complete Federal Environmental Clearance to receive Federal funding, BUT will no longer be subject to the absurd amount of lawsuits possible with CEQA - helping speed up design and delivery. It’s taking forever, yes, but we are figuring things out and ensuring future projects and generations will finally have the transit infrastructure they deserve.

[@iflytango]

9 years later, and we have nothing. It took 6 years in the 1860's to build the transcontenental and it was 2000 miles long.

[@omnimoeish]

Yeah it was approved in 2008. The badly needed new California water reservoir had funding approved 10 years ago and the land was actually designated back in the 70s or something.

[@fernandoalvarez9613]

Special interested lobbied for the TRR to be built, this project is being built while fighting the efforts of special interests

[@JS-jh4cy]

Back in 1860s there were no environmental groups or 154 committees to slow things down another 33 years

[@uog293]

Labor was also basically free

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

Short answer, yes. If it gets the funding it needs. Other factors play a part too, but funding is the biggest one.

[@tonyburzio4107]

Nope, plenty of funding.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@tonyburzio4107 elaborate. So far CAHSR has been getting piecemeal funding totaling about $28 billion available, made up of the $9.95 billion in Prop 1A funds, annual state cap & trade funds averaging about $1 billion per year, and several federal grants totaling about $7 billion. $12-13 billion of that amount has been spent so far. CAHSR will need up to $7 billion more to complete Merced-Bakersfield, $4.7 billion of which they hope to receive through more federal IIJA grants, and the remainder from state C&T funds, which last through 2030 if not extended.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@tonyburzio4107 so far California HSR has received/been authorized a total of about $28.7 billion, consisting of the $9.95 billion from Prop 1A, several federal grants, and State Cap & Trade funds, of which $12-13 billion has been expended so far. They'll need $5-7 billion more to complete Merced to Bakersfield and begin revenue service. Now compare that to Caltrans' freeway budget, which spent $18 billion last fiscal year alone compared to CAHSR spending $1 billion that same year.

[@robertab929]

Please, add international metric system measurement in your videos.

[@kyah117]

Totally. Miles are a mess 😅

[@jdillon8360]

but freedom units are the best in the world! WTF is a kilometer argh! 🦅 just kidding I'm australian and like all sensible nations we also use the metric system.

[@robertab929]

@@jdillon8360 Metric system consist only freedom units. Imperial system is based on system used in imperial Great Britain. It is far from freedom units! 😊

[@jdillon8360]

@@robertab929 yeah I know. it's just a joke

[@JosephCee]

Why? This video is concerning the high speed rail project in the United States and we don't use the metric system. I have to put up with your ridiculous system of measurement when I watch videos concerning other countries.

[@ScottSjoberg]

The route map illustrated in this video shows the HSR tracks running from San Jose up the East Bay to the Oakland area. The actual route will be along the current Caltrain tracks that run from San Jose up the West side of the Bay to San Francisco.

[@MrAwesomeSauce777]

It will never be ready until 2028. It’s gonna take at least another 10-15 years for it to be done.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

For SF-LA that would be amazing. It’ll be up to nine years more to get Merced-Bakersfield done with revenue service.

[@PacificNatureTV]

There are more people between Fresno and Bakersfield than entire states in the USA, heck more people that multiple states put together! It's not "nowhere" and people really need to stop repeating that fallacy. It is insulting to the people that live there and the massive industries those towns service which feed the entire nation and the world. Also how did you get the route into San Francisco completely wrong?? The track is going up the peninsula and as you said, CHSR has already contributed to the electrification of CalTrain as well as improvements to the track. Get it together, stop the false info and stop leaning into the hitpeice narrative/hysteria like the mainstream media.

[@jayaujo9904]

And they do ride the train. It's a very popular way for them to get to and from SF via amtrak.

[@okankyoto]

Its more that its "nowhere" compared to where the majority of voters who wanted it live. They absolutely need to be connected to the line but the major congested cities needed to be the priority (which would also sell the utility better). Now theres a risk that the majority of voters in those cities might not want to keep voting for the system that will take 20 years to get there. And it needs their support badly.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@okankyoto “oh it’s taking too long so let’s not build it.” If we’d always had that mentality there’s many things that wouldn’t have been built, including the Interstates. Meanwhile, what’s the alternative to building high speed rail? More freeway widening? More airport gates and runways? Waiting on some future technology like maglev? Why not instead just suck it up and keep going with what we’re already doing. HSR will cost less than more freeway lanes and expanded airports to carry the same capacity of people, with more benefits. That cannot be stressed enough.

[@UnmadeBedProductions]

The route you show at 9:22 does not align with what the CAHSR has outlined. The route is planned to run up the peninsula on caltrain tracks.

[@dirhamrozi9569]

Thats 20 years 😭😭 omg even our Indonesia China HSR is already build and we want to extend our current HSR

[@PHXPlanespotter]

Excep just like the HSR in California, yours is a failure as it doesn't go city center to city center and loses money year over year. So yeah, it's not all it's cracked up to be is it?

[@lexburen5932]

@@PHXPlanespotter obviously you make this up. Even india will have its highspeed rail completed before the usa.

[@PHXPlanespotter]

@lexburen5932 make what up?

[@DannyChean]

Short answer: No. Long answer: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[@asfasdfadf9820]

yes, more videos, please, thank you!

[@mattpotter8725]

Nice video, however I'd love to know what the increase in cost is when you strip out inflation because i would think a lot of the cost increase is due to that so by saying the initial estimate was $x and is now $y it's not really being honest. Sure you can say build the system more quickly and you reduce this inflationary cost, but that means higher spending on the short term when that money is needed elsewhere. I see channels like yours do this all the time. I get it is difficult to calculate and adds extra analysis to a video in an area you might not have any expertise in but i think it's necessary otherwise people just say the cost has gone up by 50% when it really hasn't.

[@cjs83172]

One of the things many don't understand about rail projects, even short-distanced ones, is just how long they take to get built. For instance, it took about 8 years for the San Diego Trolley Blue Line's extension to UTC (University Town Center) to get built, and there were only about 8-10 miles of track added, as some of the track used was already in existence for the Green Line run from downtown San Diego to just past the Old Town Transit Center. And they think that, if such a project is ever given the green light by both the U.S. and Mexican governments, it's going to take about 8 years for MTS to build a cross-border extension for the Blue Line into Tijuana. And it's taken just as long for LA Metro to complete some of it's projects, if not longer, including the D Line extension toward Santa Monica, the eastward extension of what's now the A Line toward Pomona (from it's current eastern terminus in Azusa), as well as building the K LIne and filling the gap between the K Line's Westchester/Veterans Station and the C Line's current Aviation Blvd. stop, to get LA Metro's rail service to better serve LAX, which should be complete by year's end. And those projects I mentioned include building just a few miles of railroad tracks, not HUNDREDS of miles of railroad tracks, as is the case with the California HSR project as well as the infrastructure to support such a line, such as bridges and tunnels. So even if they hadn't run into these delays, the California HSR project was going to take about 30 years to build, given that they're going to build it in stages, first from Los Angeles to Merced, and then extend it westward toward San Francisco and southward toward San Diego via the Inland Empire, including areas that badly need alternative means of transportation, especially the I-15 corridor between Murrieta and just north of downtown San Diego (they'd eventually have to head west toward the 25-30 MPH Miramar Hill section of the current Amtrak/Coaster route, since they'd likely not be allowed to go through MCAS Miramar.)

[@russsmith3047]

I STRONGLY believe the CAHSR should next extend to Los Angeles because there is only a bus connection from Bakersfield to LA. AFTER connecting to LA, train service may continue to SFO or any Bart connection by existing rail until the CAHSR catches up. Actually, after the Central Valley section is completed, SFO could be connected by existing rail. The empty section to LA must be completed first!! Also, I suggest skipping Anaheim leg until the San Diego connection is made. Good existing rail already connects to Anaheim.

[@haakenhaakensen1569]

I voted for California HSR from SF to LA because I think it is a great idea. That was 16 years ago. At this stage it will be a pleasant surprise if anyone in my children's generation is able to go from nowhere to nowhere on a high speed train within California within their lifetimes. Contrast this with the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge. Once the decision was made to do it, they just went ahead and did it. Quickly. This is not an engineering challenge but simply a failure of political will.

[@NathanYount]

If I am understanding this right, the Phase II northern part that connects Sacramento will initial be serviced by already existing services connecting through Merced CA since the extension beyond the turn needed to go to San Fran. Merced is included in Phase One as planned to serve as a transfer point to the Amtrak San Joaquins and Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) trains continuing towards Stockton, Sacramento and other destinations. Does that mean that once Phase Two is complete, you can't take the actual HSR Trains and would have to transfer in Merced with a layover thus making it not HSR continuous service and that HSR trains will not be operating that region thus not regulated fares, synergy complications with multiple operators, and various other factors?

[@steveo4749]

There is ALWAYS enough money for foreign wars. No questions asked. What if we didn't fund and instigate foreign wars and used that money at home?

[@RCSVirginia]

To @steveo4749 It is not just militarists on the right who are pushing for endless wars and lavish military spending who are the problem. The activist left wants to replace the American population with a Third World population and want to spend hundreds of billions in subsidies to immigrants to lure them into the country. The monies that both sides are spending could be used to build up infrastructure in this country as well as to help American families with children. Furthermore, a small fraction of that money could be used to help build up the economy and infrastructure in El Salvador where President Nayib Bukele had brought order to that nation and given the people hope for the future.

[@MrStark-up6fi]

Don’t forget the millions of dollars wasted on roads and the interstate

[@MarxistNurse]

@@MrStark-up6fi and constantly adding on to them with useless shit like more lanes

[@GojiMet86]

This IS LITERALLY an example of using money at home...and it is clearly very egregious and scandalous and lousy. Maybe we should learn HOW to efficiently spend money first, instead of burning money just because... So instead of inefficiently spending $120 billion on CAHSR, we could instead have had $120 billion spread on multiple HSR projects around the country. That's the actual lesson, not that foreign aid is bad...

[@MrStark-up6fi]

@@MarxistNurse more lanes and stupid amounts of parking lots

[@Rambleon444]

I know YT will probably delete this but in Newsom's own words... "The project, as currently planned, would cost too much and take too long. There’s been too little oversight and not enough transparency. Right now, there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to LA. I wish there were."[11] Newsom said he wants a segment of the rail, Merced and Bakersfield, to be completed. He said, "However, we do have the capacity to complete a high-speed rail link between Merced and Bakersfield. I know that some critics will say this is a “train to nowhere.” But that’s wrong and offensive. The people of the Central Valley endure the worst air pollution in America as well as some of the longest commutes. And they have suffered too many years of neglect from policymakers here in Sacramento. They deserve better.

[@scottmarquardt3575]

Pacheco pass is a beautiful area and part of the silicon valley/San Francisco Bay area. I worked in Morgan Hill(a burb of San Jose and look alike of a little Los Angeles)in 1997 and the newly designed streets fit in with the little mountain range and the ocean on the other side of it (Santa Cruz and Monterey)

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

That Pacheco Pass tunnel could honestly be what ultimately makes or breaks this project. Get that done, and you connect the Bay Area and Central Valley with a new, fast, frequent mode of travel that, with good transit on at least the Bay Area end, outcompetes driving. That will also help generate increased demand to get HSR to SoCal ASAP. If that fails though, and things burn out, all that's left is Merced-Bakersfield and a very missed opportunity, as the alternative to connect the Central Valley to the Bay Area (and SoCal) remains expanding already busy freeways across the mountain passes, including Pacheco, which will get even busier as more people move to the Central Valley from the Bay Area and SoCal in search of more affordable housing, making the demand for a better alternative to driving between those regions that much greater.

[@SR-bh5jd]

Sections will need upgrades before they can turn the lights on.

[@jamesau4296]

But still, does more emission getting reduced if we reallocated the budget for the HSR to solar panels?

[@TheLiamster]

I wonder if it’s possible to extend high speed rail from San Francisco to Oakland and around the Bay Area (basically creating a loop) with a branch to Sacramento allowing a one seat ride from San Francisco to Sacramento? I imagine it would be very expensive but would also yield a ton of benefits

[@williamcondon7729]

They need to send HSR to Sacramento and Caltrain north to combine with SMART and electrify the whole line.

[@turbinator1990]

BART would connect from san jose high speed rail station

[@techman8817]

Connecting to Oakland would’ve made more sense than SF, since there’s already right of way and not so many wealthy NIMBYs compared to the peninsula.

[@tonyburzio4107]

Oakland? That city is a catastrophe.

[@williamcondon7729]

@@tonyburzio4107 and yet everyone is moving there

[@davidinmel]

Thanks for this video. Could you please state the distances also in metric, for those of us who do lot live in the US.

[@Lodai974]

At the same time the LGV Occitanie between Bordeaux and Toulouse (200km for design at 360kph) begins in France. Expropriations and works in the suburbs of the two terminal cities (with redesign of existing tracks and doubling of tracks) have begun. Field studies for the detail of the The LGV Aquitaine (200km: including 150km for 360kph (design) and the rest for 220kph (operation)), it is in the final phase of discussion and negotiation with political organizations (environmental and other things, and final negotiation in the face of rejection by the population). The detailed routes (with the land registry) are already published. The challenge is to run the line through urban areas (hence the 220kph) and to connect it to the border with the Basque Y (Spanish Renfe TGV network) Opening 2030 for Occitanie and 2032 for Aquitaine.

[@jorgehaswag7294]

For some reason you showed the Caltrain portion going up the east bay, instead of the peninsula. Caltrain has no tracks in the east bay, that’s where BART operates

[@lassepeterson2740]

The irony is that the same people( government ) that came up with the idea of this train are the same people who made the laws almost impossible to get the job done .

[@tedhaining2244]

Caltrain transitioned to full electric service between the cities of San Jose and San Francisco to eventually support HSR this past weekend (21-22 SEP 2024). Celebrations were held at a couple points on the line. The new trains are quite nice and quieter than their diesel predecessors.

[@jermainetrainallen6416]

Thanks for the vid. Progress on this project has been slow but hopefully we start seeing some more signs that there's light at the end of the tunnel soon. I think there perhaps needs to be better long term planning for California High Speed Rail

[@blanchjoe1481]

To understand the scale of this project, the state if California is developing a high speed rail line ( from scratch ) equivalent from Geneva to Barcelona. While America has the ability to create high speed rail, it is one of the few ( if not only ) nation state where the rails systems are not fully funded by the government, and is expected to cover its own costs, and to not own their own right of ways.

[@heidihobear]

As some one who actually lives in Merced. High speed rail has done nothing here. It’s Amtrak that provides transportation.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

4:00 this map is inaccurate. The initial 171-mile segment, of which 119 miles between Madera and north of Shafter are actively under construction, is from MERCED to Bakersfield. The five stations are Merced, Madera*, Fresno, Kings-Tulare, and Bakersfield. (Madera is not being funded or built by CAHSR). Both ACE Rail and Amtrak San Joaquins will connect the Bay Area and Sacramento with CAHSR at Merced, as will thruway buses in Bakersfield to Southern California.

[@PHXPlanespotter]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc look at all the excuses you're making...rode a bus from Bakersfield to LA...people will either just fly or drive as they do now because this isn't what taxpayers bought....clearly you live in the inland empire and that's why you can't seem to see.past.your own nose as.to how horrible of an idea your post just was. Bus from. Bakersfield to LA...get real dude

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@PHXPlanespotter what excuses? The bus is what’s currently in place, and the San Joaquins had over 847,000 riders last year, many of those continuing to/from SoCal via that bus. I would agree though the bus bridge is not ideal, and all the more reason to better connect SoCal and the Central Valley, which is what HSR will do. The connection with Metrolink in Palmdale will provide an early alternative that will be nicer and have more capacity than the bus, for about the same travel time between LA and Bakersfield. I’m also actually from Orange County, not the IE. I graduated from UC Merced, and honestly never took the train home because I didn’t want to do the bus bridge.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

Also, people currently have to drive or fly because there’s no other competitive options that are as fast or faster. The only rail options for LA-SF are the daily Coast Starlight, which takes about 12 hours, and the 6-7 daily San Joaquins, which take about 9 1/2 hours including the bus between LA and Bakersfield, and both require a bus between the East Bay and SF. High speed rail will be that competitive option, not only offering faster travel between SoCal, the Central Valley, and the Bay Area, but also more convenient and comfortable travel than flying, with higher frequencies, and for about the same price as average airfare or a tank of gas + parking. That’s how high speed rail is across the world, and will be here too. No one will be forced to use it, but it’ll provide another option for those who are currently forced to drive or fly. It’ll increase mobility across the state, along with improved local and regional transit, which both the Bay Area and SoCal are investing in.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@PHXPlanespotter and hey, please elaborate what alternative to HSR you would do to better connect SoCal and NorCal and provide greater mobility between those places and the Central Valley. We’ve tried widening freeways and expanding airports for decades, at the cost of tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars, and traffic only gets worse and air travel is still miserable.

[@s51588]

good luck California

[@danielhandika8767]

they trying to use foreign system and merging it with the existing signalling/railroad system, which complicate things

[@ripjawfang20]

It doesn’t

[@kilodeltaeight]

Not really? HSR’s trackage will entirely be separated from the existing rail network except at the ends, with its own signaling and communications infrastructure (all ERTMS based). The except in the blended segments near SF and Los Angeles, but all those sections will still share a common signaling and power infrastructure. Indeed, a lot of the structures you see being built are to pass trains OVER existing rail infrastructure used by the San Joaquin’s Passenger and BNSF/UP freight services.

[@erikk6604]

Amtrak has a daily Pacific Surfliner train which starts later in the day. If equipped with one-person sleeper bunks, it could be made to travel overnight between Southern California and the Bay Area. If you go to sleep not long after departure, and wake up near your destination, then that might be as good as flying. I believe Amtrak is considering this, and it could be launched sooner than this high speed rail project. Admittedly that wouldn't help Central Valley residents, but would help the much larger populations of the coastal megacities.

[@NickDimitrov-j6m]

As a user of the New electric CalTrain... dear people, it is amazing, twice as fast, that cuts my time and I can bike further. For the same amount of time. We should be investing and make it a national priority.

[@markwaypoint]

Watching a video on the USA being dead last in terms of HSR among developed countries from an ICE trainset between Göttingen and Hannover in Germany. Godspeed California

[@AllenGraetz]

Don't forget those "high speed" trains operate a speed 1/3 of that of an Airbus 319. They're actually quite slow.

[@lindsiria]

However, just by completing CA HSR phase one (SF to LA), the US will rank higher than Germany for total HSR network size. We will suddenly be in the top five. People don't realize that outside China, all other developed countries with HSR are quite small.... while California is huge. CAHSR Phase 1 + 2, Brightline (both Florida expansions and LA to LV), the Texas triangle and the NC route would bring us up to the top 3 or 4 HSR networks if they all get built.

[@kilodeltaeight]

This! CalHSR is a massive project - of course it’s going to take ages. Yeah, we’d love it to take LESS ages, but California is *huge* so it’s a lot of work.

[@rppacademic]

But the US have Trump, he will even provide the US with falling far back behind China, Japan, France and Spain concerning HSR.

[@suspiciousafternoon]

progress is so slow

[@californiamade5608]

It’s was slow but it’s faster now than ever, if that makes sense.

[@stickynorth]

Too slow especially since Brightline West will be ready for 2028 and it just started construction this year...

[@tonyburzio4107]

There is NO progress, are you guys nuts? A couple of overpasses, no track. That's silly.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@tonyburzio4107 so until trains are running there’s no progress? What kind of logic is that? They need to build all the civil infrastructure the tracks will go on, i.e. the guideway and structures, before they can put tracks and other systems down. The design contract for the tracks and systems was recently awarded earlier this year, and installation should begin in another year or so on completed segments of guideway. One only needs to drive along Highways 43 and 99 between Shafter and Madera to see a lot of the progress, or simply go check out the countless photos and routine videos posted online by CAHSR and others.

[@TransRightsTrains]

@@stickynorth Brightline West had faced similar issues but ultimately it is being built in existing rights of way and even parallel to a freeway, and it will terminate at Rancho Cucamonga. It's a lot of compromises made just to build the system, while CAHSR is focusing on building the system to connect up the most important city cores. Brightline is also in great talks with the CAHSR Authority, and they support the project.

[@osmanhossain676]

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

[@tomassakalauskas2856]

Big fan of trains but that comparison with aid to allies made me draw a conclusion that aiding Ukraine is cheap and CHSR is expensive. US can aid Ukraine much more, at the same time HSR construction costs need to be optimized so much more rail is built for the same money. Too much is wasted on consultants, bureaucracy and overengineering.

[@danielhandika8767]

yeah, the US should stop trying to be the world's police, they got big problems back home

[@stickynorth]

Yup. Brightline West seems to be a better model for covering the same distances.. Use public/free ROW so nobody can sue your project into oblivion, use standardized rolling stock and designs, use single track rail with passing sections to start with design elements that will allow for future upgrades cheaply...

[@mrxman581]

​@@stickynorthThat's a recipe for mediocre train service. BLW is a terrible model for true HSR. The ROW of the 15 is not ideal for HSR. It's part of the reason why the average speed will be about 100 mph for BLW. That's pathetic for HSR. Building HSR on the cheap is a horrible model.

[@mrxman581]

That logic makes no sense. The investment in CAHSR will last for generations. It will be transformative and can usher a new golden age of train travel that will last for decades. What real-world benefits will you see from the 128 billion already given to Ukraine? What about the $800 billion spent on the last war? What benefits will you enjoy going forward? Imagine how many HSR routes could have been built in the USA for that money? Probably 12-15 lines that would have spand thousands of miles. We would have the 2nd largest HSR network in the world behind only China.

[@tonyburzio4107]

The final nail in CAHSR is distance, it goes twice as fast but three times the distance because of the ridiculous detour across the Tehachapis.

[@ivi00ndanc3r1]

This will never happen, come on is taking them years to complete the one in Santa Ana and its a small area, now imagine this one? Ill be dead by then.

[@WaynesStrangeBrain]

I just moved to the bay area. Would be great if this was finally finished instead of finally barely starting!

[@elvinsledge-h6f]

The graphic for the HSR and CalTrain in the Bay Area is not correct. The trains run (and will run) between San Jose and San Francisco on the peninsula on the west side of the bay. Your graphic incorrectly indicates the east side of the bay and a tunnel or some other link between Oakland and SF that is not in the project.

[@eottoe2001]

Yes, it will go in. Yes, it will like Japan's HSR be more expensive than planned. Yes, it will have start-up problems. Yes, they will work the problems. Yes, it will be expanded. Yes, it will improve the economies where it has stations. Yes, other parts of the US will proceed with building their own HSR.

[@eottoe2001]

@@artandarchitecture6399 as much as it takes. If it get amortized over the next 30 years it looks a lot better. What would a new interstate highway system cost now if there had been none built starting in the 1950s? The Shinkansen was estimated to go in for $200B yen and actual cost was $390B yen. Like was Hoover Dam worth it? Was the economic development that Hoover Dam created worth the original cost worth it?

[@JamesSwainPhD]

The map showing the route from San Jose to San Francisco is wrong. The map shows the route passing up the east side of the San Francisco Bay, which is where the Amtrack lines connecting San Jose to Sacramento run. The Caltrain lines connecting San Jose to San Francisco run up the peninsular to the west of the Bay. Also, Caltrain has completed testing of their EMUs and are now running them in service, alongside the existing diesel locomotive until they go all electric on 21 September 2024.

[@DrZark]

The map at 9:11 is incorrect. Its not running through the Eastbay, but the peninsula instead.

[@mikesallaberry3718]

At 9:19, I'm surprised the map shows HSR going up the east bay rather rather than along the peninsula. That's clearly incorrect.

[@scottmarquardt3575]

This is really going to clean out London smart people when this is done😂

[@wdp7128]

Perhaps my great grand children will get to see this HSR operational.. Not in my lifetime.

[@entized5671]

phase 1 will definitely be completed, we don‘t know when but it will be after that it stands to see

[@georgedoolittle7574]

*"Supersonic Passenger Air"* loss leader looks to be working and will make a good sales pitch for living and moving into the Region absolutely 😊😊

[@etbadaboum]

I expect Phase 1 to be done by 2050, if it's not cancelled before that, which is quite likely

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

likely canceled, based on what exactly? The only way this project gets canceled is by another vote, same as the one that approved the project in the first place. A majority of California voters continue to support the project, according to a 2022 UC Berkeley/LA Times poll. So if such a vote were to happen, it’s likely that a majority would vote to continue the project. Also, as things get closer to actual trains running, and people able to ride them, support will very likely keep growing, and with it demand to get HSR across the mountains ASAP. How quickly that would happen depends on how quickly funding is secured.

[@johndunbar7504]

Alstom's hydrogen trains are being installed around the world so I hope that the builders of this project are buying them. It obviates the necessity for overhead wires and will save the project a lot of trouble and money.

[@Yvonne-Bella]

Yo! CalTrain is a West Bay line. You have your map aligned to Capitol Corridor- an Amtrak line

[@Skipping2HellPHX]

9:10 overall a great video, but the animation depicts the route going up the east side of the San Francisco Bay, when it will actually go up the peninsula on the west side

[@TRONA-CA]

Railway systems in Mexico actually get done unlike CA! Governor Newsome is a joke! 🤦🏽🤦🏿‍♂️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🤦🏼‍♂️

[@sillybillyno1]

why dont you add measurements in kilometres as well? do you think everyone watching will be american?

[@udavster]

It will be finished by 2100💪

[@jlmark1852]

Brown's Folly 😂

[@KentBunn]

The map at 9:23 is wrong. It shows the route running along the East side of the SF Bay, not the West side. Caltrain runs on the East side, along the peninsula.

[@ronaldhorton2438]

The map is incorrect showing the train going to Oakland instead of San Francisco. It should go up the pinsunsula to San Francisco.

[@RailwayNetworks]

We will visit Harting ☺

[@animo4263]

I wanted to go to innotrans and see them too. Unfortunately I'm not a customer so they wouldn't give out a free ticket. Might still pay and go.

[@bearcubdaycare]

Private Brightline made a high speed line for only several billion dollars worth of federal assistance (such as less expensive borrowing). Do similar for California high speed rail (likely means focusing on populated areas and existing rights of way), and spend the rest of the 128 billion to expand the urban transit in the major cities. (How else will people get to and from the high speed rail stations?)

[@dylanstafforini9861]

You highlighted the wrong area for where Caltrain is. You show it going through Oakland and Fremont to San Jose…it’s ok the peninsula not the east bay.

[@oh...hi.]

The map at 9:22 is wrong, the tracks go up the peninsula not through Oakland

[@rafaeltorres2886]

If the State made this priority number one and asked for help from other countries / companies It would get completed much sooner.

[@shivambhadauriya]

Watch the video in 1.25x

[@joansparky4439]

1.6x here _(I use an add-on, can adjust in 0.1x increments or whatever I want)_

[@0Defensor0]

I think it was a mistake to start this project in the middle. Yes, it's the easiest to build in the valley, but relatively few people live there, so it's basically going from nowhere to nowhere. Meanwhile both ends have multiple large cities connected, so if those would have been done first, they could make much more profit than the middle section while the valley part is still under construction. The southern part could even have been connected to Vegas and make even more money, while we're waiting for the middle to finish.

[@mattpotter8725]

You can't really get from San Francisco to LA without the central section being built though can you? And I think without the votes from the Central Valley the project would have never have been approved. I do agree with you that it needs to be connected at one end as soon as is possible, probably San Francisco as geographically it's easier to do and you could complete it to say San Jose to at least allow onward journeys on other modes of transport in the Bay Area. I could be wrong but until SF is connected to CHSR in not sure connecting the Central Valley to Vegas is that much of a money spinner, although it did cross my mind as to whether you could connect the project up to the Brightline West project and run trains in to LA that way whilst the track through the mountains is being completed, although I doubt there are complications in doing this on many fronts.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

CAHSR considered several routes for the initial segment, including LA-SD, but the Central Valley was chosen because the initial federal funding they received was required to be used there. It also provides the most realistic place that trains can be tested at up to 242 mph (10% beyond top revenue speed).

[@0Defensor0]

@@mattpotter8725 The valley part is definitely important, but I don't think it was the most important. You have Los Angeles and San Diego - two huge cities - on the south, and San Fransisco, San Jose and Sacramento on the north. Why did they decide that the first step of this project needs to be the Madera-Merced part? These two town's combined total population is smaller than the potential number or daily users of a high speed rail between either of the city groups. Almost like someone is sabotaging the project, to prove that trains just aren't profitable in the US.

[@mattpotter8725]

@@0Defensor0 I don't disagree with you, your totally right, however if you started building only the north part people in LA wouldn't be happy and I think the project would be put under pressure to either be changed or scrapped, the same is true if you started with the LA southern section. In the end the priority of the project is to connect LA to SF so by starting with the easiest/cheapest part that wouldn't piss off those in the other part of the state no one's nose would be put out of joint. I agree with your sentiment, it's not ideal but it does need building to be able to connect LA to SF and it is the part that can be built the quickest (even though it doesn't feel that way right now) and so it could be shown that progress was being made, as well as the least disruption to big population centers. You say that the Central Valley's population isn't that great but it's still around 4 million people and there are still some sizeable cities in the area (and that's not counting people who don't live inside an urban area) that are under developed and so maybe the reason people in these areas voted for the project was that it would benefit them earliest, although I do think until it's linked up to SF firstly and LA more difficultly the benefit isn't that great. I don't know the exact plans but I'm surprised the link up to Sacramento, the state capitol wasn't included in the first phase, bury I guess that was to keep the budget as low as possible.

[@danielcarroll3358]

When you say "few people live there" you must put it in context. For example, Fresno has a greater population than the largest city in the majority of these United States and Bakersfield is no small place either. Don't forget the electrification of the Northern end of the route from San Francisco to San José, which is mainly paid for by the high speed project and will be part of that project in future. The last several miles in San Francisco is mainly underground and is not part of the CAHSR project but will be used by it. The Transbay Joint Powers Authority has selected the AECOM-led Portal Connectors team to provide program management and construction management services for the project. In May the federal government committed to provide $3.4bn for tat project, which would cover around two-thirds of the projected cost.

[@matthewowens1451]

nice! i think the train could me explore more than trying it with a car

[@solarflare623]

The US sending aid to other countries doesn’t make much sense when you consider that said aid consists of surplus military equipment and not money. Money is only used as a way of easily quantifying how much is being sent. It’s a terrible way to describe things.

[@alessandro7805]

USA doesnt send money to Ukraine. USA sends money to arms Company (usually americans but also europeans somethimes) then sends arms in Ukraine. Basically money "sent to Ukraine" is US tax payer money that goes into few rich people hands

[@ArthurKorn]

Dude the Caltrain runs on the peninsula not the east Bay.

[@gdrriley420]

CAHSRA didn't just decided to start in the middle, it was a condition of federal funding and needed to provide a test track there are 4 construction packages being worked on by 3 teams CP1, CP2/3 and CP4. CP4 is There is no Wasco or Corcoran station CAHSR will use the peninsula not the east bay to reach San Fransisco Burbank to Los Angeles current design is so flawed and expensive I expect it will get redone.

[@junjunaizawa7644]

What really shock me is that america doesnt have high speed railway. Because when i was young i thought usa had one that connect to california and new york. And my mind if japan and china had HSR im pretty usa had one to. So imagine my shock reaction america the superpower country in the world doesnt had a HSR

[@kilodeltaeight]

There is high(ish) speed rail in the North East Corridor, with trains going as fast as ~160MPH, plus a few smaller corridors with 90 to 125MPH service. We’re definitely behind! But the reality, too, is that the US is *massive*, and a high speed line across the entire continent wouldn’t make sense for passenger travel anyhow - not when a flight from LA to NYC only takes 8 hours.

[@daleviker5884]

The US has the best private transport network in the world. Countries that don't have that are the ones that need second-class solutions like trains.

[@P.Galore]

This is taking far too long. Both China and India have created thousands of miles in the same period.

[@WestTown97]

I think they should’ve simultaneously built LA-IE-Vegas, LA-OC-SD, and San Jose-SF-Sac. LA-SF should’ve been last

[@Rustincohle88]

US tried to cope with China and failed lol

[@christiantamme8514]

Naaa not the California government anyways. What's embarrassing that in the meantime and years after they started building it in California, Florida built a highspeed rail from Miami to Orlando via Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach with future expansions in the works to Tampa and Jacksonville. And to top it of, the same company, brightline, is working on the train from Las Vegas to near San Bernadino? with future expansion to Los Angeles Union Station

[@trail_tracker]

Private-public partnership will great for this project. However, florida is just 125mph. in many cases it is not a definition of high speed rail. Brightline West is indeed making the 200mph rail line in California that should be awesome to be started before the olympics. California also unfortunately has very rough terrains with mountains and passes. With the said, I am not sure the entire routing for the HSR was the right first step. Could have just leveraged the I-5 corridor like BW is using on I-15. But Fresno wanted to be part of the action and we end up dealing with relentless list of land acquisitions and environmental clearances with inept leaders leading this project. It should just be handed to a competent private authority who know how to get things done.

[@mews56]

Nope the US market hate competition both the Airline Industry market & the Automobile market

[@PHXPlanespotter]

The biggest obstacle to this project are the politicians themselves. Look at where the route was supposed to go before the pols got involved with each one wanting the route to go to their county seat. Making the route longer, with more curves and ultimately not really even an HSR when its all said and done. If you want it to work, It needs to be part privately and federally funded but😂 ultimately privately ran if it ever hopes to make any money and be viable over the car or airplanes.

[@davidsmith1310]

If the Federal Funding by Eisenhower for the national Interstate is adjusted for inflation for today it would be $287 billion. Why is that not being spent?

[@kilodeltaeight]

In a word, Regan.

[@daleviker5884]

Because the highway network connected the whole country with every other part. Why on earth would anyone expect to spend the same on something that only connects two points within one state? Make it make sense, please.

[@davidsmith1310]

@@daleviker5884 the point isn't just to have a couple of California High-Speeds, the point is to build a national network like the interstate. If the US spent real money on high speed rail the cost per mile would reduce dramatically enabling such a network to be built.

[@daleviker5884]

@@davidsmith1310 The poster was asking why the same as the highway network ($287B) was not being spent on HSR? $287B would not get you a national hi-speed network. it would get you the California HSR and maybe one or two others. The "national HSR network" that you dream would be tens of trillions. No one sane would spend tens of trillions when for $287B you already got whole country connected, and when you have planes on top of that to cover long distances.

[@davidsmith1310]

@@daleviker5884 like I said once you started working at scale the price per mile would be reduced dramatically. And the interstate wasn't finished all at once. 10s of trillions seems a but high. As to no sane person would spend that money for a new network, they already did. When the interstate was built there was a national rail network.

[@rickydimas2674]

I wonder why that's cost to be expensive, as Indonesian i can imagine those $80-$128 billiion can be build HSR across Java-Bali loop line (our first HSR costing $7-$8 B) and even some line in Sumatra or Borneo, the cost of this Cali HSR fascinating me

[@daleviker5884]

Indonesian workers earn a pittance compared to American workers. What would your trains cost if you were paying American level wages to your workforce?

[@ianwoodul7951]

dog this is so frustrating, it will never get done

[@JoseChavez-dp2mn]

A ver cuando esté listo me toca subir para dar un cruce 😅