High-Speed Trains Coming to California, Voters Approve Prop 1A
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 11. 7.08
While California voters rejected Propositions 7 and 10—which though on paper would’ve expanded renewable energy mandates and given tax credits for alternative fuel vehicles, were seen by many as being so poorly worded as to be counterproductive—they did approve Proposition 1A: The Safe, Reliable High Speed Passenger Train Bond Act. As you might imagine backers of the bill were highly enthusiastic.
Quentin Kopp, chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority:
Thanks to tonight's vote, a state-of-the-art, new transportation choice will link every major city in the state and move people and products like never before. The citizens of California have put the 21st century golden spike in the ground with a clear affirmation of high-speed trains. (ENS)
The current expected ticket price for the two and a half hour trip between downtown Los Angeles and San Francisco is $55. The total price tag for the project is expected to be about $40 billion.
You can check out fellow TreeHugger Jesse Fox’s post for some background on Prop 1A.
via: ENS
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That's great! I can definitely see how high-speed rail could be VERY useful in Cali. Kudo's to Californians for getting this approved!
Wish we had that in WA state . . . darn it!
bring it through oregon! maybe all the way to the Canuck's border!
At least one proposition went right. How the hell 8 passed, I don't know.
Great..Another 12 billion that California doesn't have. How deep in debt does this state have to get before people say enough? Most of these jobs that will be created will be located out of state on various studies. What a boondoggle.
The sad thing is that this project has taken so long and will probably be delayed multiple times by environmental concerns.
Trade-offs and the lesser of two evils (in this case, the significant lesser) never occurs to people. Hopefully it'll be finished before 2030 or won't be scrapped altogether when the lawyers start up their lawsuits.
Congratulations California. This is an historic vote that will transform the state and the country. We desperately need to move away from fossil fuel based transportation.
In spite of popular opinion, the people of California seem to realize the way forward is to create better transportation that is better for the environment, not simply to just switch to alternate fuels.
http://everyoneforever.org/blogger/labels/High%20Speed%20Rail.html
Re: "Wish we had that in WA state . . . darn it!"
Well at least your light rail train system is nearly complete from the air port to downtown. LA's light rail system doesn't even go to LAX! It stops 6 blocks short! May not be "high speed" but its faster than driving still...
This is fantastic news, looking at the proposed route, they are following the I-15 corridor from San Diego into the LA basin, then north using the CA-14 right of ways and the old Tehachapi trail into Bakersfield, and from there Ca-99 up to Sacremento, the spur into San Francisco will most likely use the current rail system there, as will the ancillary routes in LA..... Now if they want to truly make this a means of increased commerce, they should include exclusive high-speed truck routes along the tracks.
I live in Arizona, i drove in california once and decided that there was absolutely no reason in the world that i'd want to live there. Now there is! I think i'm fixing to move to cali once this thing gets built! The whole forward thinking in alt energy for cali was good enough, but now they are really going all the way. Way to go californians!