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Showing posts with label high speed rail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label high speed rail. Show all posts

Sunday, February 02, 2025

California High-Speed Rail Authority officials say they “remain committed and aggressive in moving this historic project forward while actively pursuing additional funding.” However, California legislators would rather move that funding to the General Fund so they can spend it on pet projects


On the agenda this year is trainset procurement. The authority “expects to issue notice of proposed award this spring” the statement says.

Last year, the authority’s board of directors approved issuance of a Request for Proposals for a supply-maintain contract for trainsets, a driving simulator, and related services. Alstom Transportation and Siemens Mobility were pre-qualified as candidates 

The recently installed authority CEO told the board the authority is looking to connect with Brightline West through the High Desert Corridor between Palmdale and Victor Valley. 
“We are working to take the benefit of (common) standards and types of construction we will be doing."

There are currently close to 30 active construction sites. By the end of 2025, all 100 structures eliminating 55 at-grade rail crossings on the four Central Valley construction packages between Madera, Calif., and the site of the railyard south of Wasco will be well underway or complete.

California High-Speed Rail, a $12.4 billion project, won’t meet its 2028 Olympic deadline due to construction delays. Officials confirm operations are expected to begin in December 2028. This was reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Brightline West officials previously promoted the rail as an essential service for Olympic spectators. In May 2023, Brightline CEO Mike Reininger envisioned connecting Las Vegas and Los Angeles seamlessly. This plan included enabling fans to attend events in both cities within the same day.

However, current projections confirm the line won’t open before December 2028, months after the Olympic closing ceremony in August.


Saturday, February 01, 2025

Tesla might not be doing everything right... but, respect where it's due, their cars park themselves at the factory when they roll off the factory assemblyline. That's pretty damn cool


I don't think it's clear that I'm absolutely not involved in the electric car vs internal combustion engine powered argument. 

I know just what a waste of energy, and how much pollution is added to the atmo to mine the amount of raw metals it takes to make the electric car... and how easy electric cars become useless due to the 100 year old power grid infrastructure the govt can't afford to upgrade, due to wasting money (hello 2023 Biden administration for throwing 73 billion dollars to foreign country aid instead of upgrading USA bridges, roads, high speed rail train tracks, solving the homeless issue, installing water resevoirs in California to provide water to prevent wildfires from destroying 14,000 homes in So Cal in jan 2025, feeding the poverty level kids in public schools 2 meals per school day, etc

But, I can certainly admire when a robo car can take itself from the factory, and efficiently park itself in synchronicity with hundreds of other cars, and await transportation for distribution. Makes me wonder... with the Tesla cars ever be allowed to DELIVER THEMSELVES to the buyer? After all, with manned charging stations? The cars would go from factory to new first buyer, without a driver, just getting charged along the way. Well, maybe robots from Boston Dynamics (those Terminator T-800 making bastards) could work the Super Charging stations... 

And I think everyone that has had a ride in a Tesla can say it's a good car. Plus, everyone that's had a ride in the underground tunnels around the Las Vegas convention center will agree, that's a damn remarkable accomplishment too.. and the rocket delivery of satellites by the Space X (another Elon Musk corporation) has done NASA's job with unbelievable cost savings to the tax payer, with superb results for Starlink, now available to T Mobile cell phone users (plus all the unknown to me phone users) in areas without cell tower reception, like the wildfire zones of So Cal. 

So, credit where it's due... Musk has accomplished as much or more than Henry Ford, or Edison, in a very different way, 100 years later. 

Now, if he could pull off a high speed rail that links San Diego to LA to San Fran to Seattle/Vancouver then to Denver to Omaha, with a line then running south to St Louis, and linking back up with the outer circle of rail at Dallas.. meanwhile, back to Omaha to Minneapolis to Milwaukee to Chicago, Indy, Columbus, Wash DC, Baltimore, Philly, NYC, Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, link at Dallas with the North/South line, then west to El Paso then Tucson, Phoenix, and back to San Diego


So, both coasts would have a line through the biggest cities, from North to South, and across the north states from West to East, and one line in the midwest from North to South, and across the South states from West to East. 

That would get rid of the monopoly the airlines have on fast transportation, (anyone with a car can drive from California to Baltimore in 3 days, and Minneapolis to Orlando in 2) give the tourists a better way to see this country (similar to the European rail system) and possibly, if smart people realize how much power can be soaked up by solar arrays in the south west desert, the high speed rail could be powered without direct use of coal or oil burning power plants, but less expensive than nuclear power.

 If there are super smart people, they will add to the right of way given to the high speed rail, a power grid, for the trains and distribution of power from coast to coast, and even water or oil pipelines. 

It's potentially, as problem solving as the steam locomotive railway infrastructure was to pioneers who settled the west, installed power, telegraph and telephone, then finally got a power grid in the 1930s through the farming states, and the military was able to move vast amounts of materials and soldiers during WW2. 

Just a thought

Sunday, August 27, 2023

The California High-Speed Rail is looking to obtain six trainsets that are capable of operating at speeds of 220 mph and tested at speeds as high as 242 mph.




The manufacturer who is chosen to receive the High-Speed Rail contract will be be responsible for designing, building, integrating and commissioning the trainsets, as well as maintaining them and their spare parts for 30 years. The manufacturer will also be responsible for testing and maintaining a driving simulator.

The California High-Speed Rail is tentatively planned to open in 2030, operating in the large middle section of the Central Valley which and connecting Merced to Bakersfield along a 171-mile track.

Construction on the project officially began in Fresno in 2015 after decades of discussion and voter approval for initial funding in 2008.

The Authority said it hopes to have service going by 2030, but transportation advocates and supporters of the project have urged the governing body to accelerate that timeline, possibly having the entire track from the Bay Area to Los Angeles up and running by 2028.

Despite clamoring from advocates and overall enthusiasm for the project, the Authority stresses that there’s simply not enough funding to get the project completed any sooner.

Construction is currently underway along 119 miles of the proposed 171-mile track across the Central Valley. There are more than 30 active construction sites in the state, and the 422 miles of the program’s design has received environmental clearance.


how the high speed rail is going to ever recoup any of the costs of operation, regardless of construction costs, in Merced to Bakershield? Along highway 99, not even interstate 5. Asking because IF there was a need for more cargo or commuter traffic, then 99 would have been expanded. 

So, is this limited area chosen because it's simply the least problematic, based on being the least populated, in the bigger project goal of LA to San Fran, the most populated cities in California, and on the West Coast

Thursday, June 01, 2023

I just learned there is a high speed rail project from Washington DC to Boston... but they haven't replaced the old freight tracks yet, and high speed trains aren't going to work well at high speed on crappy old tracks, and for 2 billion dollars, they saved one hour travel time

Amtrak’s $2 billion effort to replace its fleet of Acela express trains on the Washington-to-Boston corridor has hit a foreseeable snag: The new trains have to run on an old railroad.

Boston New Haven New York Philadelphia Wilmington Washington is the route

The new trains are capable of traveling up to 160 miles an hour. But unlike their factual high speed rail European and Asian trains, they must cope with century-old infrastructure, bridges, tunnels, and roadbeds with numerous curves.

“Alstom, the builder of the Acela trainsets has confirmed the delays are due to difficulties in replicating certain movements of the trainsets and requires further refinement to receive the FRA’s (Federal Railroad Administration) approval to conduct qualification testing on the Northeast Corridor, which is necessary to achieve compliance to launch revenue service,” Amtrak stated.

Amtrak cannot operate them for passenger service until Alstom has completed testing and met all safety requirements.
https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2023/05/new-amtrak-acela-train-service-delayed-until-2024

Thursday, July 14, 2022

In a 5-3 decision, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Texas Central — the Dallas company planning to build the railway — has eminent domain authority to seize land $30 billion bullet train project

The $30 billion train has been in the works for years. If built, it would travel at a speed of up to 200 miles per hour and enable passengers on an elevated, 672-foot-long high-speed train, to commute  hundreds of miles and over thousands of privately owned parcels between Dallas and Houston in about 90 minutes, according to Texas Central.

The company argues the project will benefit Texas by taking cars off roads, creating thousands of jobs and generating billions of dollars in economic impact.

Many Texas land owners whose properties sit in the proposed path of the train oppose the project. James Miles of Leon County sued Texas Central in 2019 challenging whether the company has the authority to use eminent domain to take property for the project.

Friday, December 04, 2020

Brightline has announced plans to finally expand and connect Orlando to Tampa via high-speed rail



The president of Brightline Trains met with transportation leaders in Orlando on Wednesday to discuss the company’s expansion project through Central Florida

The $2.4 billion project extends the company’s current rail line from West Palm Beach to Orlando. Currently, the line runs from Miami to West Palm Beach.

Last week, Brightline and Walt Disney World Resort announced an agreement to build a train station at Disney Springs.

Brightline expansion as it pertains to Disney World Guests really is allowing vacationers the opportunity to explore so much more that Florida has to offer without the stress of having to navigate to travel to those locations.


Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Virgin Trains’ Las Vegas to LA line on track for 2023 opening (thanks Steve!)

The Las Vegas to Victorville line would be the first step toward linking Las Vegas to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.

The timeline is contingent on Nevada approving tax-exempt, private activity bonds to go toward the project next month.

Before going in front of the Nevada Department of Business and Industry on Nov. 11, Virgin Trains is seeking the backing of the Clark County Commission, which will vote on a resolution of support for the project at its Nov. 5 meeting.

Bob O’Malley, Virgin Trains’ vice president of corporate development, told the Clark County Commission on Tuesday that the Las Vegas to Victorville, California, rail line is on track to break ground in the middle of next year, with operations slated to begin toward the end of 2023.

Finding a location within easy access to the resort corridor, Allegiant Stadium — which will have a parking lot with shuttle service to the stadium in the vicinity — McCarran International Airport and Interstate 15 made the site ideal for Virgin Trains, O’Malley said.


Virgin is seeking $800 million in bonds to issue $2.4 billion in debt, or half the amount the company needs to finance the trains and the 185 miles of dual tracks along Interstate 15. The amount includes $600 million in bonds from California and $200 million from Nevada.

The Nevada Department of Business and Industry will consider two $100 million requests from Virgin next month, with the first $100 million expected to be decided on at that time.

California last month approved $300 million in tax-exempt, private activity bonds to help finance the proposed Virgin Trains project.

California will consider another $300 million and Nevada an additional $100 million request next year. Obtaining the total bond amount sought between the two states would allow Virgin Trains to be eligible for federal grant funding, amounting to a 4-to-1 match.

O’Malley said the much-hyped Las Vegas to Southern California line will generate $1.98 billion in economic impact, create more than 1,000 construction jobs, transport 5.5 million visitors to Las Vegas annually and remove 4.5 million cars from I-15 annually.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/tourism/virgin-trains-las-vegas-to-la-line-on-track-for-2023-opening-1871032/

Friday, August 16, 2019

Did you hear that there had been a plan to get a high speed train from LA to Las Vegas? Well, there is also one to make a high speed train go from Las Vegas to Victorville - if the state of Nevada will go along with some tax cuts for the work and infrastructure

but they had meetings about it a couple months ago, and Nevada said hell no.

So, the project simply stays an idea until the company that is planning to privately fund it returns to the state capitol when a new group of politicians gets elected.

Seems no elected official is in a real hurry for high speed rail. California simply can't afford it. Nevada won't give a tax abatement for it.

The real issue is that California also won't widen interstate 15 from Victorville to the Nevada border. It's 185 miles, if I read correctly, and that's probably a billion dollars if they do it this year, double that every other year to keep up with inflation and higher fuel costs for all the construction equipment

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/news-columns/road-warrior/lack-of-nevada-tax-breaks-for-high-speed-rail-line-hurts-project-1677964/

Thursday, May 09, 2019

why the USA is the only NATO country without high speed rail, coffee and donuts video



answers:
too many investors in car manufacturing
too many investors in airlines
politicians can't profit from supporting it, without losing campaign donations

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

The plan to build high speed rail from Victorville to Las Vegas is back on (thanks Steve!)

Brightline announced plans yesterday to take over the rights to XpressWest’s 185-mile federally approved rail corridor along Interstate 15.

Brightline indicated it would begin building the $7 billion rail line next year with completion of a link between Victorville and Las Vegas by 2022.

A dual-track line free of grade crossings would be built between Las Vegas and Victorville. The company then planned to build a 60-mile link west between Victorville and Palmdale, California, where the line would meet with Southern California’s Metrolink commuter rail lines and the California High Speed Rail line that is under construction.

In a release issued Tuesday, Brightline indicated it would acquire 38 acres adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip to build an intermodal transportation station with access for taxis, buses, shuttles, and limousines.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/tourism/florida-firm-acquires-company-planning-las-vegas-to-la-rail-line/

I'm going to guess it will take twice as long as they predict, and cost 3 times as much, and will need a govt bailout after the company reaps profits, then announces bankruptcy, and bails. Then the riders ticket fee will be twice what they announce early in the development

Thursday, June 09, 2016

Forget about it, the irresistible force of hope for high speed trains has just hit the immovable object of govt bureaucracy

They finally found out when they tried to get a high speed train from LA to LV, that the govt set up a road block 10 years ago.

The federal govt mandated that they could only go ahead on a high speed train when they bought a high speed train made in the USA.

One problem. No one makes, or has ever made, a high speed train in the USA. It's not likely any company is going to do that any time soon.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Deal-Build-High-Speed-Rail-LA-Las-Vegas-Called-Off-382342891.html

Friday, September 18, 2015

the US govt, being full of corrupt self serving politicians, dropped the ball... and the Chinese govt is now stepping in to fund a high speed rail from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Quite shocking


Details about the joint venture, the proposed project and its financing were unavailable Thursday, except China Railway International stated that it would provide initial capital of $100 million. Project officials say they are confident construction could begin as early as September 2016.

XpressWest, a private company formerly called DesertXpress, has been talking about its high-speed rail project since at least 2007. Plans have called for a 185-mile route that would run adjacent to heavily-traveled Interstate 15 from Las Vegas to Victorville, 85 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

Chinese officials now describe the project as a 230-mile route with an additional stop in Palmdale and eventual service throughout the Los Angeles area using some of the same track that would be used by the publicly backed California high-speed rail project.

“As China's first high-speed railway project in the United States, the project will be a landmark in overseas investment for the Chinese railway sector and serve as a model of international cooperation,” Yang Zhongmin, chairman of China Railway International, told the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-vegas-la-chinese-high-speed-rail-20150917-story.html

The trains will have non-stop service every 20 minutes during peak times and up to every 12 minutes as demand requires, XpressWest's description of the project states. The California High-Speed Rail Authority said it has not yet allowed XpressWest to use its right-of-way, but it has ongoing discussions with XpressWest to explore combining both systems.

Called the Southwest Rail Network, the project aims to build a stations in Las Vegas; Victoriville, California; and Palmdale, California, with service throughout Los Angeles. The project has a price tag of about $7 billion, the Associated Press reports.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/chinese-built-high-speed-rail-works-los-angeles/story?id=33861481

If you want a really good fast look at high speed train news in California, check out http://la.curbed.com/tags/high-speed-rail  which gets into many aspects of the past 2 years news on the topic, the state govt problems, the costs, the LA to San Fran high speed train too, and the constant delays, and objections to the whole idea of using anything by airliners for fast travel. I suspect they have something to do with the USA never pulling it's head out of it's ass and making good on the promise 50 years ago of monorails, upgraded mass transport between cities, and a nice big project to get Americans back to work building big things. How in the world we lost the momentum from the interstate system, the mega dams, and the train system is a mystery

The cost, benefits, and logistics of setting up speed demon trains in the sprawling US has sparked huge amounts of debate. Proponents of high-speed rail say it’ll create jobs and bring American infrastructure and technology up to speed with Japan, Germany, China and France. Opponents either don’t want construction in their area, or think it’s a waste of money, or think that high-speed rail doesn’t make sense in a big, spread out country like America.

http://gizmodo.com/the-us-and-china-just-made-a-deal-to-build-high-speed-r-1731329831

Officially, the California High-Speed Rail Authority is responsible for planning, designing, building and operation of the first high-speed rail system in the USA.

California high-speed rail will connect the San Francisco to the Los Angeles, in under three hours and will eventually extend to Sacramento and San Diego, totaling 800 miles with up to 24 stations.

So they say http://www.hsr.ca.gov/ but that is political promises, that are already at least 2 years old, and nothing ever came about it. These morons can't figure out how to get from San Diego to LA


Seriously? The interstate 15 corridor? Waste of time. Unless a rail line gets connected between San Bernadino and Las Vegas... But nothing less than a straight shot up the coast makes sense. L A to S D is the logical path for all the tourists, convention goers, commercial transportation of goods, mail, and shipping containers full of retail goods and cars.

Then San Fran to Seattle, to Vancouver

Wednesday, July 01, 2015

high speed railroad getting ready to open in Morocco in 2017, will halve the 4 hour 45 minute travel time, and only be twice the time it takes an airliner


The first of 12 Alstom Duplex high speed trainsets for national railway ONCF was unloaded at the Port of Tanger on June 29

It is a 320 km route from Tangier to Casablanca, which includes a 183 km high speed line between Tanger and Kénitra which is being built for operation at up to 320 km/h.

 From Kénitra to Casablanca the services will use a conventional line upgraded for speeds up to 220 km/h.

Opening of the new line was planned for December 2015 when construction was launched by King Mohammed VI and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in September 2011, but delays to the infrastructure works mean this has now been put back to 2017.

ONCF expects the new line to reduce Tanger – Casablanca journey times from 4 h 45 min to 2 h 10 min.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/high-speed/single-view/view/africas-first-high-speed-train-delivered.html

(never thought you'd see news about high speed rail on the African continent, did you?)