California's 220MPH High-Speed Railway Is Finally Being Built

[kpete]

California's 220MPH High-Speed Railway Is Finally Being Built

It's been a long time coming, but the state of California is finally building its long-promised high-speed rail link. The new line, which will see trains travel at up to 220mph, will finally start construction this week.

The initial build begins on January 6th at Fresno, and will eventually see trains travel from Sacramento in the north to San Diego in the south. But in the first instance, work will concentrate on building a line through the Central Valley, before linking San Francisco and Los Angeles. Once it's done, it should allow travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles within three hours.

It'll be some time before that's possible though—and construction is already proving problematic. The estimated total cost is a dizzying $68 billion, and the amount of disruption for new stations is also proving controversial. Still, with such fast journey times, we can at least hope that the line will ease at least part of California's traffic congestion.

more plus links:
http://gizmodo.com/californias-220mph-high-speed-railway-is-finally-being-1677473743

[Kingofalldems]

1. I seem to recall Arnold blocked this, saying it was too expensive.

[kelliekat44]

3. If it were laying tracks to the next war, it would not be too expensive for the RW. nt

[mnhtnbb]

2. Finally is right!

There should have been high speed rail between L.A. and S.F. YEARS ago.
If we didn't need so many billions for war toys to kill, maim, and destroy other countries
we could have had high speed rail in numerous places on the east and west coast by now.

[Ron Green]

4. I and others were calling for this almost 40 years ago,

when right-of-way and other costs were affordable, and technology was almost as advanced as now. But the Free Market sells cars and car dependency, as it always has, and now we're looking at a "boondoggle" rather than a proper piece of infrastructure.

That said, I'll for sure ride this train

[deafskeptic]

5. About time! n/t