I expect this to eventually go forward. And I expect it to be a hug money maker for California. They will be at the leading edge of the technology in the U.S. at that point which will benefit the state, and attracting outside investors (as a public-private partnership) would further benefit the state. California was built on private investment in trains and the tourism and new residents that it attracted (thanks in part to the promotional help of Sunset Magazine).
A few years ago, California elected to spend state money on biotech research into embryonic stem cells. More than anything right now, this has caused a huge influx of venture capital of both foreign and domestic investors and might go a long way to off set the damage caused by the horrendous housing crisis. (And deficits at the State and local level.) Not entirely, of course, but public investment in new technology and innovation is attracting wealth and that's propping up the state.
Yeah, now we just need to change some of the FRA's ridiculous regulations that hurt high speed rail operations.
http://zierke.com/shasta_route/
p...regulation.html
it needs to be considered for other states and city areas in the USA.This is YEARS TOO LATE and should have been in place already, IMO.
Easy access to SF and LA downtowns from the Central Valley? Is high speed rail the new sprocket in the California sprawl machine?
rail by nature cause growth to be dense and concentrated.The folks in NJ tried to make the case against the new train line citing sprawl concerns.Where are these people when a new highway is built?That is where the sprawl comes from- not rail based development.Protest against the new highways and build more rail NOW.They have the right idea in California. I just wish they'd do more in the rest of the USA.
"rail by nature cause growth to be dense and concentrated."
Certainly for Metro, but that doesn't seem to be the case if you look out the window of the MARC train. A lot of those stops are in tiny hamlets that have failed to grow. They're simply transfer points to parking lots, from which people drive home.
A smart solution would require the stops to develop densely, because I don't think it is necessarily in rail's "nature" to promote dense development.
Commenting by HaloScan
