http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903 PUBLISHED 8-31-07 Gov. Schwarzenegger had to make some difficult cuts last week in order to square the state budget. Some of them were painful. Funding for high-speed rail survived, however, and Californians &mdash; especially Central Valley residents &mdash; can be glad it did. Development of high-speed rail, the proposed, 220-mph bullet train that will allow riders to travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two-and-a-half hours, has moved at glacial speed.&nbsp; Completely cutting high-speed rail from the budget might have put it on ice for good. High-speed rail has both long-term and near-term benefits for the valley. In the near term, the Central Valley will see a substantial share of the engineering design work, engineering collaboration and environmental planning that funds from the current budget allocation will help preserve.&nbsp; In the long-term, high-speed rail will provide an economic link between major valley cities, like Bakersfield, and major urban centers to the north and south; reduce gridlock; and save some wear-and-tear on valley freeways. As the High Speed Rail Authority holds public events in the near future to build interest for the November 2008 ballot measure, the $20.7 million allotted to high-speed rail in the new state budget &mdash; a fifth of the $103 million requested &mdash; will allow the agency to at least keep its base of contractors in place so they are not lost. The key focus and challenge is to keep the engineering and environmental work going so that when the $9.95 billion bond measure goes before the voters &mdash; and hopefully passes &mdash; the process of filling in the Central Valley network can move forward with fewer snags. The High Speed Rail Authority will probably use the full $20.7 million to begin developing the Orange County-to-Los Angeles and Bay Area high-speed rail sites to generate interest in the urban hubs in advance of the November 2008 ballot initiative.&nbsp; But the Central Valley remains the backbone of the project, meaning taxpayers here should applaud that it survives &mdash; for another year, anyway. PUBLISHED 8-31-07 Gov. Schwarzenegger had to make some difficult cuts last week in order to square the state budget. Some of them were painful. Funding for high-speed rail survived, however, and Californians &mdash; especially Central Valley residents &mdash; can be glad it did. Development of high-speed rail, the proposed, 220-mph bullet train that will allow riders to travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two-and-a-half hours, has moved at glacial speed.&nbsp; Completely cutting high-speed rail from the budget might have put it on ice for good. High-speed rail has both long-term and near-term benefits for the valley. In the near term, the Central Valley will see a substantial share of the engineering design work, engineering collaboration and environmental planning that funds from the current budget allocation will help preserve.&nbsp; In the long-term, high-speed rail will provide an economic link between major valley cities, like Bakersfield, and major urban centers to the north and south; reduce gridlock; and save some wear-and-tear on valley freeways. As the High Speed Rail Authority holds public events in the near future to build interest for the November 2008 ballot measure, the $20.7 million allotted to high-speed rail in the new state budget &mdash; a fifth of the $103 million requested &mdash; will allow the agency to at least keep its base of contractors in place so they are not lost. The key focus and challenge is to keep the engineering and environmental work going so that when the $9.95 billion bond measure goes before the voters &mdash; and hopefully passes &mdash; the process of filling in the Central Valley network can move forward with fewer snags. The High Speed Rail Authority will probably use the full $20.7 million to begin developing the Orange County-to-Los Angeles and Bay Area high-speed rail sites to generate interest in the urban hubs in advance of the November 2008 ballot initiative.&nbsp; But the Central Valley remains the backbone of the project, meaning taxpayers here should applaud that it survives &mdash; for another year, anyway. en-us Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:37:00 PDT Let's not forget that our City is doing plenty to kill the project all on its own by placing our rail site in the middle of town, slowing down the train's transit time, and making just <em>that much more</em> noise (and traffic) for us to put up with. Oh, and the safety issue as well. (How much is the city complaining about paying just to stop trains from blowing their whistles through downtown? They could barely be bothered to make a crossing &quot;safe&quot; after <strong>two</strong> fatal accidents.&nbsp;Care to guess how much it'll cost to make each crossing it uses safe? Where's <u>that</u> money coming from? How much will it increase the overall cost for the state, and for the city?)<br /> <br /> Whatever it takes to screw the county out of additional tax revenues I guess......<br /> <br /> (Why not write an article about <u>this</u>, <strong>TBC</strong>? Oh right, you don't want to complain about how screwed up things are until well after the decision period has passed.......) http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133191 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133191 Let's not forget that our City is doing plenty to kill the project all on its own by placing our rail site in the middle of town, slowing down the train's transit time, and making just <em>that much more</em> noise (and traffic) for us to put up with. Oh, and the safety issue as well. (How much is the city complaining about paying just to stop trains from blowing their whistles through downtown? They could barely be bothered to make a crossing &quot;safe&quot; after <strong>two</strong> fatal accidents.&nbsp;Care to guess how much it'll cost to make each crossing it uses safe? Where's <u>that</u> money coming from? How much will it increase the overall cost for the state, and for the city?)<br /> <br /> Whatever it takes to screw the county out of additional tax revenues I guess......<br /> <br /> (Why not write an article about <u>this</u>, <strong>TBC</strong>? Oh right, you don't want to complain about how screwed up things are until well after the decision period has passed.......) High speed rail? Poot. What I want is a industrial railway that will take the trucks chugging over the 'vine and along the valley floor off the roads. That'll do the air some good. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133198 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133198 High speed rail? Poot. What I want is a industrial railway that will take the trucks chugging over the 'vine and along the valley floor off the roads. That'll do the air some good. Anyone heard any &nbsp;plans on how the high speed train will continue it's high speed over the mountains? http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133203 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133203 Anyone heard any &nbsp;plans on how the high speed train will continue it's high speed over the mountains? <p> </p> <p>Nancy,</p> <p>The route will run from Bakersfield to Palmdale then to Sylmar..</p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p>The route will maintain a gradient of 3% or less in order that it can maintain the 200MPH+ high speed..</p> <p>To do that they will use a system of Via ducts and tunnels.</p> <p><a href="http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/implementation/ImplementationPlan.pdf">http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/implementation/ImplementationPlan.pdf</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133212 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133212 <p> </p> <p>Nancy,</p> <p>The route will run from Bakersfield to Palmdale then to Sylmar..</p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p>The route will maintain a gradient of 3% or less in order that it can maintain the 200MPH+ high speed..</p> <p>To do that they will use a system of Via ducts and tunnels.</p> <p><a href="http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/implementation/ImplementationPlan.pdf">http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/implementation/ImplementationPlan.pdf</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The city of Bakersfield has attempted to shut down the local airport for lack of use. I imagine any downtown train</p> <p>stop will suffer the same fate. Let's not hold up the building of this engineering marvel for some imaginary idea that</p> <p>travelers want to stop in Bakersfield.</p> <p>Manny</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133268 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133268 <p>The city of Bakersfield has attempted to shut down the local airport for lack of use. I imagine any downtown train</p> <p>stop will suffer the same fate. Let's not hold up the building of this engineering marvel for some imaginary idea that</p> <p>travelers want to stop in Bakersfield.</p> <p>Manny</p> <p>Thanks for that link, tkozy. I've often asked Nancy's question about <em>how de gonna do dat.</em> I'll bet&nbsp; those tunnels will cost at least twice as much as estimated. Check the Los Angeles subway overruns. They'll also be faced with some serious earthquake fault zones. </p> <p><img alt="" src="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/photos/CAbentrack1952.jpg" /></p> <p><font size="1">Railroad tracks near Bealvile, California, bent and twisted by the July 21, 1952, earthquake. (Photo from the National Geophysical Data Center.)</font> </p> <p>Here's the geological survey: <a href="http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/regional/pdf/baker/Geo_Report.pdf">http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/regional/pdf/baker/Geo_Report.pdf</a></p> <p>Anyone want to post that picture of the railroad tunnel collapse in the Tehachapis?</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133473 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/editorials/13903/#c_133473 <p>Thanks for that link, tkozy. I've often asked Nancy's question about <em>how de gonna do dat.</em> I'll bet&nbsp; those tunnels will cost at least twice as much as estimated. Check the Los Angeles subway overruns. They'll also be faced with some serious earthquake fault zones. </p> <p><img alt="" src="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/photos/CAbentrack1952.jpg" /></p> <p><font size="1">Railroad tracks near Bealvile, California, bent and twisted by the July 21, 1952, earthquake. (Photo from the National Geophysical Data Center.)</font> </p> <p>Here's the geological survey: <a href="http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/regional/pdf/baker/Geo_Report.pdf">http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/regional/pdf/baker/Geo_Report.pdf</a></p> <p>Anyone want to post that picture of the railroad tunnel collapse in the Tehachapis?</p>