Sac Bee: Valley Republicans Should Support HSR
The Sacramento Bee had a great editorial late last week calling on Central Valley Republican Congressmen Kevin McCarthy, Devin Nunes, and Jeff Denham to back the HSR project instead of trying to kill it. Some excerpts:
McCarthy, for example, has said he favors high-speed rail between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. “But the private sector should pay for that,” he has said, as if road building and other transportation infrastructure (airports, seaports) somehow aren’t subsidized….
The bill also presents a false choice between improving road infrastructure and building the passenger rail infrastructure of the future, operating at faster speeds than current intercity passenger trains.
These are both good points to make, and this blog has been making them for years. We subsidize every kind of transportation system this country has. We do so because it’s a smart use of our money that pays for itself many times over. And we invest in all modes because we recognize that we would be fools to rely on any one form of travel alone. Roads are going to have their place in California transportation for a long time to come. So will airports. And so too do trains. What the high speed rail project aims to do is simply bring a mode of travel that has proven to be successful around the world to California, to redress the massive imbalance over the last 60 years where rail was starved of funds.
Many of us who support HSR also enjoy driving and will keep using freeways for a long time to come. We just want choices and alternatives, because a 21st century economy cannot run on freeways alone. Time sitting behind the wheel is time that is being massively wasted due to an inability to access digital devices. And many people find trains more comfortable for intercity journeys, which is why HSR always grabs huge market share from flights on major corridors.
The Sac Bee went on to drop some more truth, noting that Californians still support the project:
Well, voter support hasn’t flagged since 2008. A Harris Poll released Feb. 24 showed that awareness of the project is high in California – and 70 percent support state funding and 73 percent support federal funding for the project.
And they note that the US’s only quasi-HSR route, the Acela, is profitable even though it is operated by Amtrak, that great conservative bogeyman:
The Northeast Corridor is showing the way. Amtrak’s Acela line has captured 55 percent of the air and rail market between Boston and New York, up from 16 percent in the mid-1990s, according to the New England Transportation Institute.
Prices are comparable for round-trip tickets. The line makes a profit.
All of which leads them to conclude that McCarthy, Nunes and Denham are not acting with the Valley’s best interests in mind:
But this is no time for Central Valley lawmakers to stop the most viable of the high-speed rail projects nationally. This should be a time to fight for every federal and private dollar out there.
Prior to 2000 or so, an editorial like this might have gotten these Republicans’ attention. The Sac Bee carries weight, even further south in Valley. They’re a moderate paper and their editorials are not liberal in nature. There was a time when something like this would have given serious pause to Republicans thinking about killing a popular project.
But that’s not the times we now live in. Today’s Republicans don’t answer to local papers and they certainly do not answer to local residents. Instead they answer to wealthy right-wing donors like the Koch Brothers, who run oil companies and who are highly ideologically motivated to kill high speed rail. McCarthy, as the #3 man in the House Republican leadership hierarchy, knows that he will lose his position and influence if he were to represent his district (including Kern County, which voted FOR Prop 1A in 2008) and not represent his paymasters.
I’m sure McCarthy won’t even read the Sac Bee editorial. Because to him, it doesn’t matter what the Bee says and it doesn’t matter what his constituents think. All that matters is keeping his wealthy extremist funders happy. And if that comes at the expense of a project that is essential to his constituents’ future, so be it.
But that’s not the end of the story. Public opinion – and public activism – still matters. The pro-HSR groundswell continues to build. Even McCarthy won’t be able to ignore it forever.
The DesertXpress project doesn’t seem to have nearly the same kind of public benefit that California High-Speed Rail has. So, I can understand to a certain extent the resistance to government investment in that particular piece of transportation infrastructure since Nevada casino resorts are likely to be the principal beneficiaries.
As I look at the planned Victorville terminus and the proposed Palmdale extension, the more I am convinced that the more complicated and expensive routing through the Cajon Pass needs to be given greater consideration. San Diego County, the Inland Empire, and the Coachella Valley, as well as Arizona, seemingly embody large enough markets to justify pursuing this option.
How difficult would building an extension through the Cajon Pass be?
Brandon from San Diego Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 6:26 am
I would certainly use a high speed train to get from Los Angeles or San Diego to Las Vegas. The problem is, that train does not go there.
Victorville or Palmdale does not equal LA or SD. Unless those trains are routed to their respective downtown, it is silly to expect people that want an efficient trip to want to drive a long way, pRk somewhere that is already significantly on the way to LV, and then hop on a train. People going to LV, most of them, are going for entertainment purposes.
The train on the other end needs to have connections to those hotels too.
Jack Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 7:53 am
That’s always been my issue with the line to Las Vegas. I would like to see what the planning boards stratagey is to get into Las Vegas proper instead of say, stopping at McCaren. The monorail couldn’t get past local transportation opposition, how do they expect to do any better.
VBobier Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 9:03 am
Supposedly there is a station planned in one of four downtown stops and one of them is on Flamingo in Las Vegas…
Andy M. Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 9:31 am
I’ve just consulted Google Earth and it would seem there are rail tracks passing close to central Vegas. I don’t know who owns them or what traffic/capacity is like, but I think it would be fair to consider building HSR to the outskirts of Vegas and then upgrade and electrify the existing tracks on the final bit if building an entirely new access would be prohibitively expensive.
thatbruce Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Those would be the Union Pacific track(s) between LA and Salt Lake City.
Donk Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 9:02 am
Think of it this way – you have to start building the line somewhere, just like CAHSR is starting in Bakersfield-Fresno. It is not possible to build the entire thing at once. So would you rather start it at Vegas and build south from there or start in the LA basin or Palmdale and go north from there?
With this way of thinking, it makes sense to me to have it start in Vegas and go as far south as possible, since having a car on the LA end is more important than having a car on the Vegas end. So what is the problem with having the first phase end in Victorville? Everyone who goes to Vegas has to drive thru there, so it is a reasonable place for the terminus of the first phase.
Then once we figure out how things go 5 years from now, we can make a better decisions as to where the next phase should go. I am thinking that ultimately it will make sense to build the cheap leg to Palmdale first. Then if/when ridership is high enough to justify it, build thru the Cajon pass and connect to the Metrolnk San Bernadino line, the Gold Line, and maybe HSR near Ontario.
Matt Korner Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
One of the arguments for the station location at the massive new San Bernardino multimodal terminal is the potential interstate connectivity this site would provide to reach both Phoenix and Las Vegas. So, determining the way DesertXpress may link with C.H.S.R. should probably be a part of alternatives analysis for the L.A. to San Diego line.
Brandon from San Diego Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
However, the problem with the LV line is that ther are no plans to extend the line beyond Palmdale or Victorville into LA. None. What you have are ideas.
CHSRA has a plan beyond Bakersfield.
Paulus Magnus Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 5:45 pm
The connection at Palmdale would connect it with Los Angeles and the rest of the CAHSR system.
Brandon from San Diego Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 8:41 pm
That is not a plan, that is an idea.
DesertExpress needs to get permission from the CHSRA Board for that to become a Plan.
Paulus Magnus Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
By the same standards, CAHSR has no plan, merely ideas, since it doesn’t have the funding or even the precise alignment details for the entire system. Besides, the idea that CAHSR would deny permission for it is fairly ludicrous.
thatbruce Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 5:46 pm
Likely what will happen initially is a number of private coach operators will provide services connecting the LA Basin and Victorville.
StevieB Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Do you really expect DesertXpress to get the huge federal loan they need to build to Victorville?
Brandon from San Diego Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
I don’t. It needs more political backing. And quite frankly, lots of California legislators likely see this as a direct funding pipeline to Las Vegas casinos.
Andy M. Reply:
March 15th, 2011 at 2:55 am
DesertXpress is a very courageous project and I wish it all the best. Howver, I do see its weaknesses, not least in that if the train wants to be succesful, it really has to offer something that air travel doesn’t. The Californian HSR lines will be taking quite a lot of traffic at intermediate stops meaning it can offer direct journeys in a way that airliners can’t. It will also be competing with densely loaded highways, making it attractive over shorter distances that airlines cannot hope to tap into. None of that is really an issue in the desert. There are no short distances and any traffic from intermediate stops is pretty insignificant to he whole. One major weakness is not being able to run through end to end. I would propose that in the initial phase at least some trains continue to LA with diesel haulage, as for some passengers, a one seat journey is more valuable than a fast sprint on a dedicted high-speed line.
off-topic, but HSR-related. The Japan Times reports that the SCMaglev and Railway Park just had its grand opening in Nagoya.
Tokyo Disneyland is still closed after the earthquake and the Shinkansen is running on an limited schedule, but for 200-500-1000 yen (children, high school students, adults) you can take a look around full-size Shinkansen and maglev trains, and 30 lucky people a day get to try a Shinkansen simulator… operate the controls and brake pedals of an N700 bullet train!
Americans would say “the show must go on”, but for the Japanese operating this new park, I would say “gambatte!”
(“Gambatte” means “Work Hard” but the understanding is “Good Luck”)
VBobier Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Nice link there, Series 0 Bullet Trains, Old yes, But very interesting indeed. Rotten deal that quake and tsunami of course, But Japan will bounce back and I hope for the best too.
James Fujita Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
from the sounds of it, it seems to be the Nagoya equivalent to the Tokyo Subway Museum or the Railway Museum in Saitama (which replaced the Tokyo Transportation Museum). I used to love the Transportation Museum when I was a kid and I enjoyed the subway museum with its subway simulator and 1923 vintage subway trains.
They’re supposed to bring back some vintage trains for the Ginza Line’s anniversary.
I’m sure that the opening was planned for ages, but it says something about the Japanese character that they would go ahead and open it anyways.
BruceMcF Reply:
March 16th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
If anime/manga is to be believed, “Gambatte” often means “work insanely hard against insanely long odds to achieve what seems at first to be impossible! oh, and good luck! you’ll need it!”
At three syllables, that’s quite effective information compression.
Speaking of the Koch Brothers, It gives new meaning to the term Octopus I think…
I went looking and look what I found…
VBobier Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
I should have said We need to Boycott all Koch Industries products…
Alon Levy Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
That’s pretty much impossible. Commodity companies trade with one another all the time. You can’t really tell just by what gas station is branded where the oil comes from.
joe Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Uh
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/8/24/895947/-Boycott-Koch-Products
Angel Soft toilet paper
Brawny paper towels
Dixie plates, bowls, napkins and cups
Mardi Gras napkins and towels
Quilted Northern toilet paper
Soft ‘n Gentle toilet paper
Sparkle napkins
Vanity fair napkins
Zee napkins
Georgia-Pacific paper products and envelopes
…..
….
…
joe Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
And Koch owned Invista products
http://www.invista.com/en/shareholder/index.html
One thing that hasn’t occurred to most is the possibility of linking up a train at Palmdale. The former Hikari Railstar that used to service between Hakata (Fukuoka) and Shin-Osaka linked up with the Hikari Shinkansen at Osaka and continued its journey to Tokyo.
Why not get the act together now to standardize the gauges and rail for the Palmdale-Victorville-LV train to work in conjuction with the CAHSR?
That way you can have a CAHSR bullet train from San Diego to Los Angeles link up at Palmdale to head on over to Las Vegas. Things like “passengers going onto Las Vegas, your carriages are 5-8, while those heading to San Francisco are 1-4″ or something.
Ken Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
To clarify, if the gauges and the train sets for both CAHSR and the LV bullet train could be standardized, you can do this:
CAHSR #400 (carriage 1-6) & LV Express #200 (carriage 7-10) leaving Union Sta. 8:00AM arriving Palmdale 8:30AM. Trains de-linked CAHSR #400 (carriage 1-6) continues on to San Francisco on its own, LV Express #200 (carriage 7-10) links up with LV Express #200 (carriage 1-6) leaving Victorville at 8:45AM.
All it needs is pre-advanced planning to standardize the gauges and compatible train sets.
Jack Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
I don’t think the CHSRA know what they are using yet. It’s one of the questions up in the air.
Ken Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Hopefully the recent earthquake in Japan would give boost to choose the Shinkansen. If it can handle a 9.0 earthquake, it can handle any earthquake in CA. :D
thatbruce Reply:
March 16th, 2011 at 11:39 am
@Jack:
You mean, its not too late for broad gauge? cool!
@Ken
On a serious note, running trains for different destinations as the same linked unit does introduce passenger confusion and hence delay. Its something to be avoided unless you are intending to overcome capacity issues.
BruceMcF Reply:
March 16th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
I think it is intended to overcome capacity issues on shared portion of line.
Confusion is minimized if they are distinct trains in distinct livery coupled together ~ the first is the only way to do it efficiently and the second is a bit more confusion in not having a common pool of rolling stock, but worth it for the clarity to the travelers.
If the HSR is booked seat, HSR people will be standing in locales based on seat number anyway. If the LV Express is carnival seating, need to be sure that the LV Express tickets print the correct queues and that those queues have clear signage matching the LV Express livery.
adirondacker12800 Reply:
March 16th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Much easier to have the ten car train to San Francisco leave at :00 and the ten car train to Las Vega leave at :05 than to have a ten car train, five cars to San Francisco and five cars to Los Vegas leave at :00 and another ten car train of five cars to each leave at :05.
thatbruce Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 5:54 pm
To do this properly and regularly, you need (apart from the obvious such as compatible loading/rail-gauge, couplers, power/signalling etc):
a) Consistent locations at each platform where the different portions of linked sets stop.
b) Electronic signage on the outside of the train showing the destination for the unit that passengers are about to board.
Item (a) implies consistent ordering of linked units within a regular timetable, and possibly splitting of platforms into ‘a’ and ‘b’ sections for easy identification (SF on platform 1a, LV on platform 1b). Item (b) is just plain useful anyway, and ought to be in the specifications that the CAHSRA is using for the procurement of trainsets.
But detailed analysis of this nature is really just a bunch of train geeks making noise. Neville, are you out there?
adirondacker12800 Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
They are both going to be standard gauge and when Desert Express is electrified it will be at 25kV and 60Hz. Loading gauge and signaling are where the problems might be. It would be really really stupid for Desert Express to pick anything other than what California settles on.
Train splitting is marginally useful at the far end of low traffic branch lines. The express to San Francisco will leave Los Angeles at 8:00, the local to Las Vegas will leave at 8:05.
Richard Mlynarik Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
You could do that (make/break trains) but you’d be stupid to unless forced to.
It does seem to appeal to the model train operator in many of us, though.
Cross-platform transfers and through-running (interlined) trains will work for a long, long time, if not indefinitely.
BruceMcF Reply:
March 16th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Except it would be the CV local, not the through to San Francisco. Whether it is at the start, many of the SF throughs will eventually be full length trains, so they are not a plausible target for exploder services.
Joey Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 7:54 pm
There is no reason to couple/decouple unless there is a serious capacity issue to be dealt with. As it stands, no such issue will exist anywhere except at the terminals.
Alon Levy Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 11:13 pm
I think you’re confusing the Hikari Rail Star with Mini-Shinkansen. The Mini-Shinkansen trains are coupled to express Shinkansen trains until they split and run on the regauged legacy lines. The Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen doesn’t split trains – it interlines them.
Koch can throw all the money they want into elections, but the voter is still in charge. Look at their failed proposition to overturn AB32. Look at Meg Whitmans campaign. Money helps, but you cant buy an election.
If the republicans continue to focus on doners, and not on constituents…well, it’s their loss.