Schwarzenegger Supports Prop 1—California High Speed Rail

Though I would never consider myself anything near a Republican, I also suspect the high speed rail project to be a boondoggle project. The bond measure would act as a regressive sales tax, inequitably affecting lower-income, communities of color who are already struggling within urban areas. Furthermore, as Los Angeles' light rail construction has illustrated, these expensive rail projects often hurt bus systems, which often serve lower-income communities, have greater versatility within the urban area, and make more financial sense.

Who are we trying to benefit with these expensive high speed rail projects? Rich company executives? How many trips out of all trips within California are seriously between SF and LA and what are the demographics of those trip-takers? Surely, not the lower-income populations within our cities.

I agree with the sentiments against expanding freeways and with reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But there must be more sensible ways to create win-win solutions for the all cross section of society.

Dan, you are an idiot. Or should I say Martin Engel!!

Nice attempt to marginalize Dan's comments there "Bob" by calling him an "idiot" just because he raises valid concerns/points on the issue at hand. Where is your tolerance?

The HSR website cannot even respond to email questions posed in it's own website. You think this state created entity is then capable of wisely spending an additional $10 billion in state tax dollars and EVEN MORE tax dollars with Federal matching funds?

Comrade Cruickshank's world doesn't seem to think HSR will have the security problems that airlines are currently experiencing. But HSR would be a very lucritive target for a terrorist: Blowing up a train packed with pax (ala Madrid) has been done. So passsengers will be screened by TSA just like the airlines.

A train going 200MPH with an over 400 miles of exposed rails/right of way for terrorists to mess with? That can make for a spectacular terrorist "message" just like any airplane would.

Who is paying for the alleged HSR "feeder lines" mentioned here? It isn't in the Bond measure... Once again, the REAL COST TO TAXPAYERS is not being brought out in the open so a few "green minded" folks can feel good about themselves at the expense of others.

I think that commuter and intercity rail needs to be fixed before/during the construction of HSR. For clarification, feeder lines are not new lines, but trains which would connect with the HSR. Oh, and whoever said buses are a viable transportation option, WTF? I know poor people who ride buses, they HATE it and complain about it all day long and get mugged on them. Rail is for everyone, or at least we can make it that way with proper funding. I know people who will NEVER ride the bus but are willing to ride a train. Fix commuter rail, make it efficient, make it fast, make stations closer to housing (or viceversa), and make it a competitive trans. alternative to the car, which we cans still support. Not anti-car, but pro-rail.

$40 billion could be used to build a lot of new roads. Getting our highways up to capacity will be the equivalent of taking half the cars off the road as far as NOX emissions, and 5/6 of the cars off the road as far as CO2 emissions. The solution to our oil problems isn't to stop building roads and cause gridlock. That's just silly. Better rail is the future, but in the meantime, we shouldn't be cutting off our nose to spite our face in doing nothing about the gridlock

High Speed Rail is a great idea. It will be worth it for generations to come connecting two of the biggest metropolitan areas of the country together with world class transportation. But we shouldn't stop there. Just like Cal-Train connects the South Bay communities with SF, we desperately need a rail system in the 101 corridor from Marin to Santa Rosa. Think of the posibillity of connecting with the Bart Network, and Northern/Southern California HSR. Millions of people could effectively commute the length of the state without ever stepping foot in an automobile. That's REAL progress.

HSR has been around for over 30 years! Look around the world and you will see HSR going in everywhere from China to Turkey and from India to Spain and Russia. There is HSR all over Europe and Japan. In 30 years, I have not seen any reports of ANYONE removing any HSR system but rather expanding and exporting them. In Europe over 80% of travel under 280 miles is by HSR. But HSR in the United States must contend with the Oil Lobby, The Airlines and The Automobile Industry with all their power to misinform. They stand to loose billions. HSR and electrified light rail gets transportation off the oil grid and on to the electrical grid where you have many options none of which is dependant on oil. Electric trains don't care if their electricity comes from wind, water, nuclear or something new that we have not even thought of yet! In addition, once built, HSR can easily increase capacity by simply adding train sets. It is a great long term investment that will cost more to build the longer we put it off!

HSR has been around for over 30 years! Look around the world and you will see HSR going in everywhere from China to Turkey and from India to Spain and Russia. There is HSR all over Europe and Japan. In 30 years, I have not seen any reports of ANYONE removing any HSR system but rather expanding and exporting them. In Europe over 80% of travel under 280 miles is by HSR. But HSR in the United States must contend with the Oil Lobby, The Airlines and The Automobile Industry with all their power to misinform. They stand to loose billions. HSR and electrified light rail gets transportation off the oil grid and on to the electrical grid where you have many options none of which is dependant on oil. Electric trains don't care if their electricity comes from wind, water, nuclear or something new that we have not even thought of yet! In addition, once built, HSR can easily increase capacity by simply adding train sets. It is a great long term investment that will cost more to build the longer we put it off!

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