Tag: high speed rail

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Would High Speed Rail have kept the SF Giants affiliation in Fresno?

On By jamesinclair

Last week the news in Fresno was all
about baseball. After a 17-year partnership with the AAA Grizzlies, the San
Francisco Giants decided to end their affiliation agreement and instead back
the Sacramento River Cats. One of the major reasons cited for
the switch was how Sacramento is closer to SF than Fresno, which allows for
faster and more convenient moves between the teams when needed. Now, we all
know the public reasons for any major decision aren’t the only ones. There are
always layers of strategy and money under the surface. However, the public
reason certainly did come into play.

Click to read more!

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Hyperloop proposal: Bad joke or attempt to sabotage California HSR project?

On By jamesinclair

Was Elon Musk’s s mega-announcement really just a last-ditch attempt to sabotage the California High Speed Rail (HSR) project, rather than a serious proposal to revolution travel? Something smells very fishy, so let’s take a look….

By now you’ve probably heard about Elon Musk’s widely publicized proposal to build a tube transit system that can get you from LA to San Francisco in 35 minutes.

I was excited to hear about the proposal, as there had been some hype attached to it.  Elon Musk is a serious guy – founder of Tesla, SpaceX and Pay-Pal – so when he says he has something big, it makes sense to listen. Click to read more!

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Federal budget includes more money for Fresno BRT

On By jamesinclair

Part of the recent release of the 2014 federal budget included a list of what the FTA will fund as part of their “small starts” program. That budget includes another piece of the Fresno BRT (bus rapid transit) funding puzzle – another $10 million. The Fresno Bee last reported on the initial $17.8m grant over two years ago. No money was handed out in the 2013 budget.

BRT in Fresno is supposed to improve bus service along Blackstone and Kings Canyon, via downtown (and eventually the high speed rail station). Those are currently the corridors with highest bus ridership.

Unfortunately, Fresno isn’t getting real BRT. Very few bus lanes, street-level boarding and really nothing more than you’d find on what other cities might label an express route or special route. Regardless of the lack of features, the project is expensive – almost $50 million. Some of those costs are for new articulated buses. A little more goes towards improving bus stops and shelters. But the meat of the funding will go towards….well, this is Fresno, so you know the answer. Road widening. Even though Blackstone and Kings Canyon already are very wide (6 lanes + parking + turn lanes), that apparently isn’t enough to paint a bus lane. The laughably small 20% of the project that will involve exclusive lanes revolves mostly along wider roads. Oh, and new traffic signals. Click to read more!

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Why is Fresno Bee being so critical of HSR?

On By jamesinclair

And why hold the project to a higher standard than anything else?

The Fresno Bee has taken to writing a front-page article about the California High Speed Rail (HSR) project every Sunday. On their part, it’s an excellent idea. HSR is a huge project, not just for Fresno, but for the entire state and the country. Because Fresno is ground zero for the project, as construction is slated to start here first, it makes sense for the Bee to stake their claim and try and become the authoritative source on all news related to it. Not only will that preserve their subscription base, but it grows web readership as their articles are linked into from around the country. Click to read more!

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Pro-HSR radio ad in Fresno

On By jamesinclair

The Fresno Bee reports that a new ad will be airing on local radio featuring former Mayor of Fresno Alan Autry (Republican). The ad also features comedian Will Durst.

You can listen to the ad here.

The ad touches on a few key points:

-Pro-central valley, local ad, local pride.

-Touches on ways that the media and the population of LA and the Bay area frequently crap on the valley, and the way politicians have been fighting to take the money away.

-Talks about the very real brain drain, as young people who want real careers have no choice but to look for opportunity elsewhere.

-Uses a well known (locally), and Republican, spokesperson . Click to read more!

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Amtrak California ends 2011 with continued high ridership

On By jamesinclair

It may almost be March, but Amtrak has just released their December report, meaning we can take a look at Amtrak California ridership for the end of the year. When I last wrote about Amtrak ridership the August and September reports had just been released. My lack of posting hasn’t been because ridership has been poor. Quite the contrary, ridership continues to exceed previous highs, and the year ended quite well.

For the October-December period, ridership is up over 2010 on two of the lines.
Year on year ridership changes
San Joaquin : +8.6%
Capitol Corridor : +6.9%
Pacific Surfliner : -6.1% Click to read more!

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The market approach to the Union Pacific problem

On By jamesinclair

Union Pacific is the largest railroad in the US, and they are also strongly against passenger rail. Concerning Amtrak, UP has been a pain in the ass when it comes to requests to allow for more service. For example, when Amtrak sought to increase service on the Sunset Limited (New Orleans to LA) from 3 times a week to daily, UP demanded $750 million in ransom money. This ludicrous amount was simply their way of telling Amtrak to bugger off. The reason behind the astronomical amount is less to do with logical business planning and probably more of political/ideological grandstanding.

However, Amtrak’s Sunset Limited is small peanuts compared to California where the state plans to build a high-speed rail line (HSR) that will run next to UP rail lines for the majority of the route. The problem is, because UP is against passenger rail, instead of helping the HSR program by working together to use excess land (land which was originally given to UP by the government), they have taken the opposite approach and banned the HSR authority from using any of their right-of-way (ROW). This has raised the cost of HSR by a huge amount, because instead of using vacant land, the authority will be forced to purchase land that is occupied by businesses and farmers. The land cost isn’t the only added expense. Bridges have been built over the UP rail lines leaving completely clear the entire piece of land they own, even the unused area. Because HSR will have to be built outside of the UP land, every single bridge will have to be rebuilt, or the line will be forced onto very tall viaducts. Neither choice is a good one, and both are remarkably expensive. Click to read more!

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High Speed Rail, funding, and short term thinking

On By jamesinclair

You may have seen on the news yesterday something about California’s High Speed Rail (HSR) program. A committee, mandated by the voters to review the program periodically, issued a report essentially stating that the program should be put “on hold” until the funding picture becomes clearer.

The California High Speed Rail blog has the initial news and analysis here, and today the official rebuttal from the HSR organizers, here. The rebuttal goes through the points, line by line, and throws facts in the mix. For example, while the peer review group states that the lack of full funding commitment is a major issue, the HSR people counter with the fact that no transportation program EVER is fully funded before starting. Click to read more!

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High Speed Rail discussion tonight at Fresno State – open to public

On By jamesinclair

Fresno State will be hosting a town-hall style debate tonight on High Speed Rail.

Thursday night at Fresno State, Elizabeth Alexis of CARRD and Daniel Krause, Executive Director of Californians For High Speed Rail will join former Republican Assemblymember Mike Villines for a debate on HSR moderated by Fresno Bee columnist Bill McEwen. The debate is at 7PM in Fresno State’s Satellite Student Union.

California High Speed Rail Blog

The debate is open to the public.