tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post5046671466103763348..comments2023-10-30T09:03:07.163-07:00Comments on California High Speed Rail Blog: Why Is Obama Scared Of The Transportation Bill?Robert Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06906581839066570472noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-78721969996342662262009-07-18T11:42:36.483-07:002009-07-18T11:42:36.483-07:00Alon Levy said...
"In terms of oil imports, t...Alon Levy said...<br />"<i>In terms of oil imports, transportation is important, but local transit is more important than HSR.</i>"<br /><br />In terms of oil imports, what is important about transport is car miles driven and long haul road freight. For the first, local transit, regional transport, and inter-regional transport are not rivals, but complements.<br /><br />"<i>In terms of health, only about 10% of lung cancer deaths in the US are due to pollution, industrial or automotive. The remaining 90% are from smoking.<br /><br />Obesity is high in the suburbs, but even higher in poor inner cities, which may have low car use but have even less access to full-service supermarkets.</i>"<br /><br />Odd that getting killed or crippled in traffic accidents doesn't count as a health issue.BruceMcFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08502035881761277885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-20364417296889108642009-07-17T22:34:02.265-07:002009-07-17T22:34:02.265-07:00@ anon
Yeah, but think about it. Is it the Drug d...@ anon<br /><br />Yeah, but think about it. Is it the Drug dealers fault, or is it the buyers fault? If money presents itself could you blame the drug dealer?<br /><br />If people in Sonoma County are willing to buy from drug dealers, then who can you blame? But if their are only "rich white folks" up their then you have nothing to worry about.<br /><br />Drug dealers are only in business as long as there is a market for them.luis d.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04825999683258862540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-12677771261684386122009-07-17T21:56:57.168-07:002009-07-17T21:56:57.168-07:00Oakland drug dealers have been commuting to San Fr...Oakland drug dealers have been commuting to San Francisco on BART for years to take advantage of the permissive atmosphere and buyers with money. No doubt they will heading down to San Jose on BART too when it opens.<br /><br />Business is business.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-41434324675816722572009-07-17T21:49:23.743-07:002009-07-17T21:49:23.743-07:00@ jim
"they didn't want bart to come up...@ jim <br /><br />"they didn't want bart to come up there because it would make it too easy for people from oakland to get up there."<br /><br />They said the exact same thing about Bart to the Tri-Valley (Dublin/Pleasanton) and we got it anyway. Twelve years later, I don't see swarms of Gang members coming out of the Dublin/Pleasanton Bart station! All I see is people with their breifcases, coat's and newspapers. <br /><br />Now some people say the same thing about the Livermore BART extension! It's ridiculous!!<br /><br />We all know it's all because people are still prejudice and racist's that we are held back! Most of them hear Oakland and think of blacks. Either that or they are afraid of Commuting Mutant's or some B.S, lol. I don't know!luis d.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04825999683258862540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-55272854644838093332009-07-17T21:21:48.742-07:002009-07-17T21:21:48.742-07:00ok ok ok whatever just let them do whatever gets...ok ok ok whatever just let them do whatever gets their trains running and some people off that stretch of 101 - for those of you in socal, the marin sonoma portion of 101 is still basically a dirt cow trail with bay area traffic on top of it. Its the dumbest most underbuilt highway in I have ever seen in an urban area - oh yeah - guess why - the folks up there didn't want to widen it because once they got thier homes - they didn't want more development to follow. so they kept voting against widening it. Also, when there was talk of bart coming up there - I know people up there who actually told me personally that they didn't want bart to come up there because it would make it too easy for people from oakland to get up there. Can you believe it? I was all "are you kidding me?" and they were adamant about it.<br /><br />Its the california way of doing things now.<br /><br />I guess with smart they figure eastbay people will have to bart under the bay, then ferry to the north then transfer to smart and maybe that will be too much effort. and you know with HSR, gang members from riverside will be able to zip right up to Palo Alto to wreak havoc. That's their plan. Of course what they don't realize is the Palo Altons will try to recruit them to do their yards. Its going to be chaos I tell you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-41833735359882685732009-07-17T20:57:18.972-07:002009-07-17T20:57:18.972-07:00Transportation is an energy issue, and transportat...<i>Transportation is an energy issue, and transportation is a health issue.</i><br /><br />Transportation is an energy issue, kind of, and a minor health issue.<br /><br />In terms of oil imports, transportation is important, but local transit is more important than HSR. In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, it's fairly important, but is secondary to converting the electricity grid to carbon-free, cutting industrial emissions, and increasing building efficiency.<br /><br />In terms of health, only about 10% of lung cancer deaths in the US are due to pollution, industrial or automotive. The remaining 90% are from smoking.<br /><br />Obesity is high in the suburbs, but even higher in poor inner cities, which may have low car use but have even less access to full-service supermarkets. In the Bronx, which has a rock bottom car ownership rate, the reported obesity rate is 30%, compared with a national average of 23%. Such areas need health care, not more public transit.Alon Levyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12195377309045184452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-13729519569761881022009-07-17T18:07:42.987-07:002009-07-17T18:07:42.987-07:00mike said...
" "You don't seem to un...mike said...<br />"<i> "You don't seem to understand the difference between the compliant rail car concept and the Stadler product."<br /><br />Richard is absolutely right here. ...</i>"<br /><br />That's not Richard, that's a cowardly Anony-Mouse.<br /><br />"<i>Of course the manufacturers claim, "Oh sure, we can build an FRA compliant vehicle that is just as efficient and reliable and existing DMUs, blah blah blah." Simple physics dictates that the reality will turn out to be otherwise.</i>"<br /><br />So what're their track records on delivering on their promises? Nippon Sharya's "Buy USA" subsidiary has delivered 800+ railcars in 17 orders to 6 US customers ... how many of those railcars were, as the cowardly Anony-mouse suggested, "By the time SMART constituents realize that their non-existent, highly customized, one-of-a-kind train is overweight, years behind schedule, unreliable and massively over budget, it will be too late." Indeed, they claim that they have never delivered late.<br /><br />The claim on energy efficiency is not, of course, that the heavy freight rail compliant railcars consume no more energy than the Stadler railcars, but that they have higher passenger capacity per car.BruceMcFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08502035881761277885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-57892681487618888762009-07-17T17:33:49.546-07:002009-07-17T17:33:49.546-07:00You don't seem to understand the difference be...<i>You don't seem to understand the difference between the compliant rail car concept and the Stadler product.</i><br /><br />Richard is absolutely right here. Of course the manufacturers claim, "Oh sure, we can build an FRA compliant vehicle that is just as efficient and reliable and existing DMUs, blah blah blah." Simple physics dictates that the reality will turn out to be otherwise.<br /><br />Bombardier Alstom claimed that Acela Express would be fully FRA Tier II compliant while still being perfectly efficient, reliable, stable at high speeds, etc etc. It is FRA compliant, but none of the other stuff has turned out to be true. The first clue might have been that they felt the need to spec 12,000 horsepower for a 320 passenger trainset. In comparison, both the TGV Duplex and the ICE 3 have 12,000 horsepower for around 600 passengers.mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-19274460439672668672009-07-17T16:56:43.704-07:002009-07-17T16:56:43.704-07:00The clincher, of course, is that the lighter railc...<i>The clincher, of course, is that the lighter railcar in the running could not be easily converted to run off the wires, if they later electrify the corridor, while the heavy-rail compliant railcars can be.</i><br /><br />You don't seem to understand the difference between the compliant rail car <i>concept</i> and the Stadler <i>product</i>.<br /><br />The former doesn't exist. The latter can be bought off-the-shelf. The specification for the former is yet to be written, so it can be "easily converted" inasmuch as it's "easy" to write another requirement for the future ability to just slap on a pantograph and transformer. Piece of cake, right?<br /><br />By the time SMART constituents realize that their non-existent, highly customized, one-of-a-kind train is overweight, years behind schedule, unreliable and massively over budget, it will be too late.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-64657305013637284232009-07-17T16:44:31.333-07:002009-07-17T16:44:31.333-07:00mike said...
"@Jim That announcement is "...mike said...<br />"<i>@Jim That announcement is "good news" only if you like your rolling stock to be heavy, inefficient, and expensive to maintain.</i>"<br /><br />Reading through the article more closely, the heavier FRA compliant railcars are about as energy efficient as the lighter railcars, since of course energy efficiency would be measured in passenger-miles per gallon, not railcar-miles per gallon.<br /><br />The clincher, of course, is that the lighter railcar in the running could not be easily converted to run off the wires, if they later electrify the corridor, while the heavy-rail compliant railcars can be.<br /><br />Generically, we would be better off with a regulatory class for lighter railcars, especially for higher speed rail, since the energy efficiency penalty of the extra weight goes up with higher speeds.<br /><br />However, it makes quite a lot of sense for SMART to duck that regulatory challenge if there are in any event substantial reasons to prefer the heavy freight rail compliant railcars in the running.BruceMcFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08502035881761277885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-48621601707381275902009-07-17T16:41:28.720-07:002009-07-17T16:41:28.720-07:00I have a suggestion, Why doesn't every other s...I have a suggestion, Why doesn't every other state that want's HSR put up at least 25% (of their own money) of the total funding that they are requesting in order to receive HSR stimulus? California becoming the model for other states. We've got $9.5B, what do they got?<br /><br />Some of these other state projects only cost $3B-$10B while ours is $45B. Doesn't make sense for them to get completly funded by the Govm't while we don't, I don't think we should (would be nice though) be anyway.luis d.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04825999683258862540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-76493810892058703862009-07-17T16:08:41.743-07:002009-07-17T16:08:41.743-07:00@toys
get a life.@toys<br /><br />get a life.Daniel Jacobsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17133054732320097319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-66021636543590764302009-07-17T15:56:19.119-07:002009-07-17T15:56:19.119-07:00@ jim -
you really need to watch that jerking kne...@ jim -<br /><br />you really need to watch that jerking knee. Remember Chatsworth? A safety philosophy based on adding more shteel does not protect rail passengers in train-on-train collisions. It protects freight rail operators' bottom line.<br /><br />SMART, by itself, is too small to overturn decades of FRA rulemaking in favor of the freight industry. However, the PRIIA mandated investments in positive train control by 2015, an active safety technology in widespread use all over the world (in various guises).<br /><br />In addition, Caltrain has proven that modern, lightweight EMU designs are at least as crashworthy in grade crossing accidents as FRA compliant equipment. Passengers trains should be as light as possible to minimize operations overheads and associated subsidies.Rafaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05471957286484454765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-19618312613236227002009-07-17T15:42:13.832-07:002009-07-17T15:42:13.832-07:00besides didyou miss the part were freight traffic ...besides didyou miss the part were freight traffic will be sharing the row. Ill tell you what, when Im on a train now, I'm very confident knowing that if there is a crash, that SOB is gonna hold together pretty well. Im gonna get tossed, but not crushed. I prefer it that way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-3169594885626233202009-07-17T15:39:18.778-07:002009-07-17T15:39:18.778-07:00@ anon Yes I do prefer that americans have good jo...@ anon Yes I do prefer that americans have good jobs and safe transportation thank you.<br /><br />besides being fra compliant means flexibility in future extension, row sharing, equipment sharing/borrowing etc all o f which is currently done among agencies.<br /><br />If I can't have my french TGV then you can't have your FRA non compliance.<br /><br />We'll just just do everything the with the good old fashion american tried and true, red white and blue method. fine with me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-78261152901055949312009-07-17T14:07:39.233-07:002009-07-17T14:07:39.233-07:00@Jim That announcement is "good news" on...<i>@Jim That announcement is "good news" only if you like your rolling stock to be heavy, inefficient, and expensive to maintain.</i><br /><br />And over-staffed by a crew of engineer, conductor and assistant conductor performing Important Safety Critical tasks like deploying bridge plates and placing hat checks, all deliciously 1950s-like<br /><br />Allll abooooooooard ding ding toot tootAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-8640633501146061132009-07-17T13:35:37.827-07:002009-07-17T13:35:37.827-07:00@Morris Whether your interpretation is correct wi...@Morris Whether your interpretation is correct will depend on whether USDOT requires matching local funds for any grants. I don't believe they have announced a firm requirement yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if they ultimately reject all applications that don't include a local match. At that point, it will no longer be about getting "free money" from the Feds, since the only way you will get money for a project is if you're willing to spend your own money on that same project. Which is how it should be.<br /><br />@Jim That announcement is "good news" only if you like your rolling stock to be heavy, inefficient, and expensive to maintain.mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-24406312266871584902009-07-17T12:31:31.376-07:002009-07-17T12:31:31.376-07:00noticed this article:
http://sanfrancisco.bizjour...noticed this article:<br /><br />http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/07/20/story2.html?b=1248062400^1862008Randynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-76495491012796230372009-07-17T12:05:34.708-07:002009-07-17T12:05:34.708-07:00this is good news for the bar area more rail movin...this is good news for the bar area more <a href="http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/07/16/smart-to-use-heavier-rail-cars/" rel="nofollow">rail</a> moving forwardAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-17861743678711258272009-07-17T11:54:31.714-07:002009-07-17T11:54:31.714-07:00@toys...goneon66 sound like a name you ues?@toys...goneon66 sound like a name you ues?nonimbysnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-68570562951140825372009-07-17T11:18:40.674-07:002009-07-17T11:18:40.674-07:00@toys
First, I'm a conservative and I support...@toys<br /><br />First, I'm a conservative and I support the train. <br /><br />Can you please back up your accusations with sighted facts. It documented extensively here on this blog that HSR reduces short-haul flight traffic. That alone makes it worth the invesment, and it's not even the biggest advantage. <br /><br />Try again.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16546110092294220744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-87343859103157578692009-07-17T10:12:39.356-07:002009-07-17T10:12:39.356-07:00You're just a bunch of liberals infatuated wit...You're just a bunch of liberals infatuated with this train. In your opinion everything should get trampled by your pet project, which by the way, you want all taxpayers to fund, even though very few will benefit from it. There is no empirical evidence that this train will significantly decrease highway traffic or deaths on the road. Traffic has increased steadily in every country where high speed trains exist.We've got no money for toys!noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-19011649730091683032009-07-17T09:36:45.930-07:002009-07-17T09:36:45.930-07:00What is ironic to me is often hear this need to fo...What is ironic to me is often hear this need to focus on energy plan and health care first. Transportation consumes an enormous portion of our energy, and our broken transportation system is a health risk, both indirectly through pollution and cancer risk, and directly through mass fatalities. <br /><br />As someone under 30, if I die young it's most likely going to because of an automobile accident, and even as someone who doesn't drive, biking and walking still present that risk. If I need to use my health insurance, odds are it will be to treat injuries from falling off my bike after some car driver cuts me off or slams their car door into me. Typically 40,000 Americans die directly from automobile crashes a year and I have no idea how many would be added to that from other automobile related issues like lung cancer along freeways. Studies show cities with more transit use, walking and biking are healthier, less obese and with less heart attack risk.<br /><br />Transportation is an energy issue, and transportation is a health issue.Garyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03764923416400647049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-88343471727105665742009-07-17T09:25:29.710-07:002009-07-17T09:25:29.710-07:00What bothers Joe Average is huge deficits to bail ...<i>What bothers Joe Average is huge deficits to bail out greedy bankers and favorable regulation/juicy contracts for BFFs of elected officials while investments in civilian infrastructure and essential social services are neglected.</i><br /><br />On the contrary, polls that ask people straight up whether they support tax increases or higher deficits reveal majority support for deficits.<br /><br /><i>In the video above video Paul Krugman said, "Rail is something that needs special consideration."</i><br /><br />Krugman is not an expert on transportation policy. He just likes rail for aesthetic and political reasons. His opinion on the issue is no more informed than this of his ally Brad DeLong, who's proud of his Prius and seems to be an anti-transit NIMBY.Alon Levyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12195377309045184452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4263762637946594105.post-68810015518899192052009-07-17T09:04:40.776-07:002009-07-17T09:04:40.776-07:00Sorry, the last post was intended for the previous...Sorry, the last post was intended for the previous thread. Please ignore.mikenoreply@blogger.com