High-Speed Rail Record

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Leaders Want Two High-Speed Rail Routes

This article, that recently appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, describes the decision of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to endorse two different high-speed rail routes to Los Angeles, one over Pacheco Pass, and the other over Altamont Pass. While both of these routes have their own pros and cons, it seems crazy to endorse two routes when the price tag of the project is already high. However, the route over Pacheco Pass appears to have more problems associated with it, including environmental and ridership issues.  Nevertheless, it appears that that route will likely be built before the Altamont route.

It's disappointing that in California, where the political persuasion is relatively liberal, the governing bodies haven't been able to come up with a solid plan for how this rail system should be built. Traffic between the Bay Area and the LA Basin will only increase in the coming decades, and this project is becoming more and more urgent for the transportation future of the state. California citizens need to voice their opinions to their legislators, because without a strong public backing for this project, it won't leave the station. While it's fair to criticize certain state leaders who have lavishly spent copious amounts of money "researching" high-speed rail on trips to France, that doesn't diminish the urgency of the project, or the necessity for citizens to pressure their legislators to do the right thing. High-speed rail works elsewhere, and it can work in California. Let's just hope that bureaucracy and political wrangling don't keep this project from becoming a reality.

BBC: Lib Dems Plan Air Tax to Aid Rail

The Liberal Democrats, the third-largest political party in the UK announced a plan Thursday that would put an additional 10GBP tax on internal UK flights, as well as a tax on road freight, in order to fund upgrades to the rail network. The proceeds from the taxes, which could generate 12 billion GBP over five years, would be poured into improving the rail network, including adding high-speed rail links from London to Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Tyneside, Scotland, Bristol, Cardiff, and Exeter. The money would also be used to lengthen trains, cut fares, remove bottlenecks in the system, contribute to capacity addition programs like Crossrail in London, and reopen some closed lines.

icNewcastle: High Speed Railway Link Plans Shelved

According to icNewcastle, the British government has put off a decision to add high-speed rail services between Scotland and London. The government also said that using maglev technology was out of the question. After a new government plan for rail travel was released earlier this week, many passengers and politicians have been upset at some of the proposed changes, which will see only a marginal increase in capacity leading to more crowded trains, higher fares, and a lack of investment in crumbling infrastructure.

icNewcastle: Getting Up to Speed

This article discusses a recent consultant's report that advocates a new high-speed rail line in the UK. The proposed line would go along Britain's East Coast, which differs from earlier proposals that would develop a high-speed line along Britain's West Coast. An East Coast line would bring benefits to the whole nation, but particularly to Scotland, a region that needs additional links to the outside world in order to generate further economic development. The second part of the article discusses the long-term development potential of high-speed or maglev trains to connect the entirety of Britain economically, making transport more accessible and quicker, and thus enabling workers to work in more places.

SJ Mercury News: Panel Lays Out Rough Route for High-Speed Rail

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has tentatively planned the first phase of the project, set for completion in 2017, according to this article in the San Jose Mercury News. The route would start in Anaheim, and proceed North through Los Angeles and head towards the Bay Area. Stops in the Bay Area have yet to be determined, but locations in San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland are under examination. This first stage of the line would be built before the other stages of the project, including lines to Sacramento, San Diego, and Irvine. The Authority believes that the first stage of the project built will be the one that will generate the most revenue and ridership. Hopefully, the project can receive the funding it needs to go forward and that 2017 completion date can be met, because the project is desperately needed to alleviate congestion on California's roadways and in its skies.

California Senate Subcommittee Approves $40 Million More for High-Speed Rail

The legislative process seems to be having a positive effect on the implementation of high-speed rail in California. After Governor Schwarzenegger offered a paltry $5 million in his budget revisions last week, a state Senate subcommittee appears to have bumped that number up to about $45 million. Hopefully that funding will remain part of the budget and not be removed by legislative wrangling. However, the funding still well short of the $103 million the High-Speed Rail Authority is requesting, but the money will be able to help the Authority start environmental and engineering work on the project. High-speed rail is imperative to the future economic viability of the state, and it's essential that it get built. Please, lobby the State Legislature for more funding. They've made a good start, but they need to do more.

Arnold Maintains His Hypocrisy on High-Speed Rail With New Budget Proposals

Arnold's new budget proposal for high-speed rail was disappointing, to say the least. This San Jose Mercury News article discusses the proposal. The new budget proposes funding of $5.2 million, up from $1.2 million in January. But $3.5 million of the money will come from the Orange County Transportation Authority, and only if the state contributes a comparable amount of money for engineering and environmental work between Los Angeles and Anaheim. The other half million is unspent money the High-Speed Rail Authority wants to roll over into the new fiscal year. It's disappointing to see Schwarzenegger fail to take serious action on the pressing needs of transport for Californians. Granted, more needs to be done to create a detailed financial proposal for the project, but Schwarzenegger should have allocated more money to the Authority to start. He should have at least given them the essential funds to start purchasing right-of-ways before property values increase further. That would have been the smart fiscal decision. It's now up to the State Legislature to decide whether the Rail Authority can get the funds it deserves. If you live in California, please lobby your State Legislators, telling them you want the project. Without your support on this vital issue, the project will likely stagnate.

Schwarzenegger Claims to Support High-Speed Rail, but Does he Walk the Walk?

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his support for high-speed rail in a recent editorial in the Fresno Bee. The Long Beach Press-Telegram has an article about the editorial. But his latest budget proposal of $1.2 million to fund the high-speed rail authority falls far short of the $103 million they've requested. While Schwarzenegger's concerns about funding sources for the project are legitimate, and need to be dealt with, cutting funds to the High-Speed Rail Authority will only slow down the project and cost California taxpayers millions more to build. Short-term savings will lead to greater long-term debts. But given Arnold's track record with bonds in California, he seems to prefer the long-term debt to short-term difficulties. Schwarzenegger will announce a revised budget proposal tomorrow. Hopefully the governor will come to his senses and give the Rail Authority $100 million more, money they desperately need.

It's imperative that Schwarzenegger take bold steps to lead his state forward. He has bipartisan support, and the vision to get there. Environmental concerns are more prevalent than ever to the citizens of California. Schwarzenegger has an opportunity to lead, but instead he's acting hypocritically. The citizens of California need to lobby their state representatives hard in support of the project because transportation may be the most important issue for California's future economic prosperity, and high-speed rail must be part of the equation. If California doesn't make the necessary investments now, then the state will lose its competitive edge and its transportation network will be unable to handle the projected influx of people into California in the next 20 years. Transportation represents a quality of life issue for the citizens of California, and if investments aren't made today, California's roads and skies will get even more crowded, and transportation will become an even bigger hassle to Californians.

SJ Mercury News: High Speed Rail Deserves Support

The San Jose Mercury News has an interesting editorial about the need for high-speed rail in California. It concedes that high-speed rail won't work miracles and alleviate a lot of California's congestion problems, but it will offer a convenient alternative to air and road travel which is sorely needed.

Welcome to High-Speed Rail Record

The High-Speed Rail Record site is intended to be a companion blog to Maglev Monitor. The High-Speed Rail Record will cover news and commentary related to high-speed rail development around the world. Maglev monitor will cover specifically maglev rail technology, and not the wheel-rail standard of conventional railroads. If you have any comments about posts, please leave comments, I would love to hear them to improve my write-ups of articles, and my knowledge of the industry.

Thanks, and enjoy!

Sam Sellers

Founder High-Speed Rail Record