Annie Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 1:42pm

I'd totally take such a train! Especially if it went down the coast and had great views. Downtown to Downtown is key, and so is the $40 ticket.

Jamison Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 2:11pm

Sorry, there wouldn't be a coastal view, but it would cross the bay and you'd get to see quite a bit of inland California.

I just edited my entry after I found out Eurostar offers direct service from London to disneyland Paris in 3:30 hours. Here in California, Disneyland would certainly offer shuttle service like they do the airports right now.

You can look at the possible routes (scroll down a bit) which show further extensions to Sacramento and San Diego (and Disneyland, er... I mean Anaheim) and linking all of California's major cities together.

annie Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 2:22pm

I took the train from London to Paris several years ago, and it was sooooo convenient. No messing about in airports, or taking airport shuttles or anything like that. It was practically as convenient as getting on the BART or Muni underground, except we were going three hours away! I loved it! And the idea that we were under the English Channel was pretty slick, too.

Edna Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 5:06pm

I'm totally for the idea of a bullet train. Since my family is down in Southern California, it would be a little more convenient for me to visit them and not having to deal with a long assed MUNI ride across town or deal with Super Shuttle drivers that have no idea how to get to my place and to the Oakland Airport. Plus sitting in congested pockets of traffic like the 580 going through the Alatamont Pass in the East Bay or dealing with L.A. Traffic or even Inland Empire traffic is really not my cup of tea.

Kniwt Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 10:17pm

As much as I'd love to see a California bullet train -- especially since a station is planned for Fresno -- I'm extremely skeptical that it will happen in my lifetime, if at all.

June 26: http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_177195631.html
Legislation that would sidetrack a $9.95 billion high-speed rail bond measure for the second time was approved by the state Senate on Monday without debate. By a 33-0 vote, senators approved a bill by Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, that would remove the measure from this November's ballot and place it on the November 2008 ballot.

July 5: http://sacramento.dbusinessnews.com/shownews.php?newsid=83883&type_news=latest
By signing the 2006 Budget Act, Governor Schwarzenegger continued funding for the California High Speed Rail Authority for the full funding request of $14.3 million dollars ensuring the Authority can continue critical work over the next year to finish engineering and environmental studies, and preserve rights of way along the approved alignment. ... Recently, the California Legislature and the Governor supported legislation to postpone a $9 billion bond measure to 2008 to initiate funding for building a high-speed train system in California. The system is projected to carry as many as 68 million passengers annually by the year 2020.

At this point, they're claiming "victory" over just being able to preserve right-of-way for some unspecified future when the thing might actually be able to be built. And 2020 is (shudder) close enough now that, even if construction were to start tomorrow and not in 2009, I seriously doubt the service would be ready on schedule, or anything even close to that.

There are far too many moneyed interests who stand to lose if high-speed rail becomes real in California.

On second thought, if I'm still in Fresno in 2020, I will have far larger problems with my life.

Patrick Friday, July 21, 2006 at 2:40pm

Count me in as a HSR supporter, though as Kniwt points out, the proxpect seems increasingly remote despite the politician's endorsement.

Add to that the debate over which pass the route will take over the Diablo Range--Altamont or Pacheco? The transportation geeks have lined up behind Altamont, while the San Jose politicos are still flacking for Pacheco. At least the insane route that would have gone through Henry W. Coe State Park seems to have dropped off the map. That was the one that featured a station in Los Banos, located near a cemetery and a dairy farm, that coincidentally was owned by HSR consultant Rusty Areias...

Jamison Friday, July 21, 2006 at 4:52pm

If high speed rail isn't built for another two decades will it be any less valuable at that point?

California's population will keep growing and more roads and runways will not be able to keep up, but there will still be plenty of contracts for building them.

This could be more of a political problem. High speed rail won't come fast enough to help anyone's re-election campaign. Likewise, the unanimous vote was to delay the bond, not kill it outright. That would make it much harder to say you support the project during a re-election campaign.

As for the south bay (all trains would run south from SF through San Jose) or east bay (SF trains would head over the Dunbarton Bridge and San Jose trains meet up at the Fremont BART station) routings, some uber-geeky facts and figures show the Altamont route means that while San Jose trains would only leave ever 24 minutes (instead of SF's every 15) it means more frequent service everywhere past Fremont, and much faster service to Sacramento.

AF Tuesday, July 25, 2006 at 5:38am

"There are far too many moneyed interests who stand to lose if high-speed rail becomes real in California."

Of course! Why didn't I think of that!! I assume you're speaking of oil, tire, and car industries.

If only we could shore up a competing set of moneyed interests...we could create some sort of "study" which predicts certain other industries economically benefitting from increased circulation via transit (retail, tourism, what else?) by amounts equal to or greater than the status quo.

chris Wednesday, November 1, 2006 at 6:01pm

I can not wait. I am all for this. Flying is more expensive and if you include security check in waiting for flights and delays it can be more time and frustration. I would use it between San Francisco, Fresno and Los Angeles.