Letter to the editor: Sac State must support the high-speed rail projects
Steve Jones/CC BY 2.0
43191 “Seahawk” at Coedkernew on 15/07/02. A State Hornet reader argues that high-speed rail should be funded more.
November 30, 2018
#Iwillride
I was recently given the opportunity to attend #Iwillride Day, which was held at the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s Fresno office in October. The purpose of this day was to inform students of the progress and current efforts towards completion of high-speed rail while giving them an up-close look at a few of the larger structures being built.
The event was attended by students from California State University, Fresno, Fresno City College and the State Center Community College District, which serves California’s Central Valley.
From this day, I can tell you firsthand that high-speed rail is coming. It is being built today and it is the future of transportation in the state of California. We, the students and faculty of Sacramento State, have the rare opportunity of supporting and contributing to the project’s growth. Our campus should voice our advocacy for the project proudly and join the effort of spreading awareness throughout the state.
The students, especially, will be the ones benefiting the most from the completion of the high-speed rail system. Due to sheer size, the final product will not be reached for years to come, but we can expect the Silicon Valley to Central Valley lines to be completed as soon as 2027. Upon completion, we will have the ability to travel across the state at speeds of over 200 miles per hour. We will be able to get from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a few hours, completely avoiding the inconveniences of flying. Most importantly, all of this mobility will be fueled by 100 percent renewable energy. We will reduce highway congestion, preserve our environment by lowering emissions and allow a form of transportation never before seen in the state of California.
Let us, the Sac State family, join together in our support for this transformative project and learn how each of us can get involved in the #Iwillride program at http://hsr.ca.gov/iwillride.
afrench • Dec 5, 2018 at 6:47 pm
@Goll, I guess when one is old?, closed-minded, opinionated, sophomoric, and ready with unsubstantiated assertions then one can resort to ad hominem attacks (naive, leftists, writer of this drivel, indoctrinated, smell what he is shoveling) instead of offering a thoughtful, considerate response to the first writer. High speed rail in California will be a major advance for the State, offering alternatives to building more freeways and airports, each with their own requirements for subsidies. I hope it will be completed. But no question, there are very troubling issues that deserve questioning, mainly how will it paid for and how will costs be controlled? How about another ->intelligent and accurate<- try instead of dismissing supporters as having mentally ill behavior?
Seitu Coleman • Dec 5, 2018 at 5:28 pm
@ William Goll The irony about your statement is that it sounds like you haven’t been informing yourself of the facts on this project. The California High-Speed Rail System is being designed to accommodate trains traveling at 220mph on dedicated right-of-way between Burbank and Gilroy. The system will have a mix of services like other high-speed rail systems around the world, such as express trains, limited-stop trains, and local trains that stop at every station. The express trains are able to pass local trains and intermediate stations by use of passing sidings at every station. See pdf-page 35 for a diagram that clearly shows the track layout at an intermediate station.
http://www.hsr.ca.gov/docs/programs/eir_memos/Proj_Guidelines_TM2_2_4R01.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_loop
Take a look at pdf-pp. 27-35 to see an example of the timetables and time-space diagrams that delineates which trains pass which.
http://www.hsr.ca.gov/docs/programs/eir_memos/Proj_Guidelines_TM4_2R00.pdf
Yes, I know the document above is 10 years old, so I’ve provided to the service planning methodology document from the 2018 Business Plan.
http://www.hsr.ca.gov/docs/about/business_plans/2018_Business_Plan_Service_Plan_Methodology.pdf
Oh, and by the way, I want high-speed rail in California.
William Goll • Dec 1, 2018 at 9:17 am
I guess when you are young and naive and dont take the time to inform yourself of the facts, something like the insanity of the “bullet” train sounds good. This supposed bullet train will never go 200 miles per hour. It is already documented that with all the stops it will have to make that it will never even see anything close to 100 mph. Ot will operate much like a standard train. It also is going to have HUGE cost over runs and is already well over budget for what has been built which is from nowhere to nowhere. This is going to cost the tax payers of this state billions and billions for something that is absolutely not needed or wanted by a majority of the citizens.
All of this in a state that is already $1.3 TRILLION under water in unfunded pension debt and another $200 billion in debt in the general fund. Leftists of California say they care about the poor. Then why does California have the highest number and percentage by population of people living in poverty and what do we do? We raise gas taxes and other taxes for boondoggle projects like these which hurt the poor the most. It is literally mentally ill behavior.
Hopefully the writer of this drivel is not further indoctrinated by his university like most young people are these days and wakes up to smell what he is shoveling.