Wednesday, June 17, 2009

From a NY Times Sunday Magazine article about high speed rail in California:

For the moment, it’s fair to assume that the high-speed-rail project will be a vivid, 10-year nightmare for many engineers and Californians. On the positive side, the start of construction — beginning, say, with all those grade crossings — will instantly create thousands of jobs, a considerable boost given the state’s double-digit unemployment rate. But it will disrupt dozens of communities and almost certainly raise the ire of many civic activists. If recent history is any lesson — and you might consider Boston’s “Big Dig” — the train will likely encounter cost overruns, delays and perhaps even tragic accidents and corruption. Antagonistic politicians and environmental lawsuits may drive its costs even higher. And through it all there will be a lingering question: Is demand strong enough to support the projected annual ridership between Los Angeles and San Francisco of about 54 million passengers by 2030? Quentin Kopp, the chairman of the rail authority, told me that he thinks the estimates are accurate. “But if we’re off on that,” he acknowledged, “then we won’t succeed.”

40 years ago it was easier to get to the moon with technology that didn't exist or wasn't intended to do what they wanted it to do than to figure out how to get California a high-speed rail to travel what, 400 miles? They're talking about the year 2030 in this paragraph, but talks and planning for high speed rail started 10 years ago.

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