General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why the United States will never have high-speed rail [View all]grantcart
(53,061 posts)In urban areas.
There are 5 airports that serve the LA metropolitan area;
LAX
Burbank
Ontario
Long Beach
Van Nuys
For the 70% of the population in LA Metro area that live in places like San Bernardino, Santa Ana or Long Beach they would likely arrive in SFO IN LESS TIME by going to a nearby airport than they would travelling on congested freeways JUST TO GET TO THE TRAIN STATION IN LA ( and then take the train to SFO).
For those travellers the trip would likely take 5-6 hours from home to SFO rather than the 2-3 hours it would take from their home to SFO by using regional airports.
To be viable a bullet train needs 2-3 million passengers a week. The highest projections from peer review experts is between 400k to 600k.
The money is better spent help in the poor with their daily commute.