There's nothing on earth like a genuine, bonafide, electrified, 68billion dollar monorail

[GettnHuge 2]

http://hosted.ap.org...-07-06-19-12-38

 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California lawmakers approved billions of dollars Friday in construction financing for the initial segment of what would be the nation's first dedicated high-speed rail line, eventually connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco.

 

The state Senate voted 21-16 on a party-line vote after intense lobbying by Gov. Jerry Brown, Democratic leaders and labor groups.

 

The bill authorizes the state to begin selling $2.6 billion in voter-approved bonds to build an initial 130-mile stretch in the Central Valley. That would allow the state to collect about $3.2 billion in federal funding that could have been rescinded if lawmakers failed to act Friday.

 

Critics call the bullet train a boondoggle, but supporters hailed the vote as the start of a much-needed infrastructure project that will generate jobs.

 

The bill, which passed the state Assembly on Thursday, now heads to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, a supporter of the bullet train. The final cost of the completed project from Los Angeles to San Francisco would be $68 billion.

 

Senate Republicans blasted the decision in light of the state's ongoing budget problems.

 

"It's unfortunate that the majority would rather spend billions of dollars that we don't have for a train to nowhere than keep schools open and harmless from budget cuts," Sen. Tom Harman, R-Huntington Beach, said in a statement.

[SUXBNME 1,457]

I was under the impression that it still hasn't been approved by anyone except the assembly so far. Fock

[Blitzen 0]

Politicians have completely lost touch with reality. There's also the World's next largest tower planned to be built in China. They are looking to prefab it and then set it up in 90 days.........aint't going up that one.

[Blitzen 0]

I was under the impression that it still hasn't been approved by anyone except the assembly so far. Fock

 

Wait until they launch it and find that they can't charge people enough to pay for it for fear of travellers not using it.

[Vikings4ever 538]

Wait until they launch it and find that they can't charge people enough to pay for it for fear of travellers not using it.

http://www.startribune.com/local/161518155.html

 

Carrying fewer passengers this year, Northstar commuter rail is slashing fares by as much as 25 percent in an attempt to attract new riders.

 

The fare reduction underscores the ongoing challenge the line -- now nearly three years old -- faces in persuading northwest suburban commuters to ride.

 

Ridership declined 2.8 percent through May of this year and is lagging even further behind expectations for 2012. Metro Transit officials blame it on a variety of factors, including the Twins' drawing fewer riders to Target Field, and say adjusting fares is part of the line's growing pains.

 

"We are a brand-new system and kind of have to play with price and demand to get it right," said Ed Byers, deputy chief operating officer for commuter and light rail at Metro Transit. But a transportation researcher critical of rail transit says the relative ease of driving and parking in Minneapolis practically guarantees soft demand for the commuter train.

 

"You're not looking at a market that was suited to this," said David Levinson, a professor at the University of Minnesota.

 

The fare reduction will be in effect from Aug. 1 through April to test public reaction. The Metropolitan Council, which oversees rail and transit, could make the reduction, or a version of it, permanent.

 

A goal of the Met Council is to offset the fare cut with increased ridership. But Northstar would need to attract a new passenger for every five current riders to erase a $323,000 revenue loss expected from the fare reduction alone over the nine months.

 

"It's unlikely," Byers said. "But Northstar was built for the long term, and our real goal is attracting riders for the long term."

 

Metro Transit says it will tap fund reserves or trim expenses elsewhere to make up for any loss in revenue not recouped by increased ridership.

 

Even at full prices ranging from $3.25 to $7, fares don't come close to paying for the line. Northstar, like other commuter trains, is heavily subsidized, with government paying about 80 percent of the $24 per-passenger cost. To prevent that subsidy from rising even more as fares are cut, ridership would need to increase by 3 percent.]

[SUXBNME 1,457]

Wait until they launch it and find that they can't charge people enough to pay for it for fear of travellers not using it.

I'd actually use it to go LA when OldMaid and I hook up. Cheaper then flying or driving

[kilroy69 1,216]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSoa1b-yBUY

[Recliner Pilot 61]

Is there any way we can just kick Cali out of the Union? Those idiots will end up taking a good portion of the country down with them.

[OldMaid 2,129]

I'd actually use it to go LA when OldMaid and I hook up. Cheaper then flying or driving

Is there still time for me to move to Nevada?

[SUXBNME 1,457]

Is there still time for me to move to Nevada?

Sure. Only problem is that Nevada is closer and you'll be easier to hunt down stalk find.

[Bert 1,128]

Good Gawd California could fock up a wet dream.

[SUXBNME 1,457]

Good Gawd California could fock up a wet dream.

Even with all of our clusterfuck lib politicians, it's still a beautiful place to live.

[drobeski 3,061]

Even with all of our clusterfuck lib politicians, it's still a beautiful place to live.

This statement is the equivalent of newbie saying "but I get tons of dirty pictures in return"

[hoytdwow 202]

Is it actually a monorail, or did you just inject that to make the project sound foolish?

[SUXBNME 1,457]

This statement is the equivalent of newbie saying "but I get tons of dirty pictures in return"

Yea...Sorta

 

I love Cali, but in fairness, I've never lived anywhere else, so I don't have the comparison thing going for me.

[Recliner Pilot 61]

Is it actually a monorail, or did you just inject that to make the project sound foolish?

The "monorail" part is what you find foolish??????

[Strike 5,186]

This project started as a referendum on the ballot so actually the residents of the state foolishly set this dumb thing in motion. But what's funny is how the project has evolved. The original referendum had specific metrics defined, such as travel time between LA and SF of no more than 2 hours 40 minutes. Remember this is supposed to be "high speed rail." Except you can't go high speed in the vicinity of LA or SF. So you go regular speed to get out of LA, then you might go fast for a while but will have to slow down through some of the more densely populated areas, then speed up, not to mention that you might have to stop and change trains a couple of times during your journey. So the current time frame they're saying for LA to SF is like 4 hours or something. It actually violates the wording of the referendum that started this whole thing. And the chairman of the high speed rail authority, who testified in front of the state legislators yesterday, said this is no longer about high speed but about modernizing rail in the state. They plan to use some of the money to buy new BART cars for SF for example. Yet this wasn't in the original proposal. Needless to say there are going to be a lot of lawsuits about this. It may or may not ever get off the ground regardless of whether they start selling these bonds or not.

[GettnHuge 2]

Is it actually a monorail, or did you just inject that to make the project sound foolish?

 

the foolish stuff is in their own business plan where they project it to be finished around 2028 with a final cost of 98billion when

all the routes are blended together. WHat should we call this one? The big pig?

[mobb_deep 920]

Yea...Sorta

 

I love Cali, but in fairness, I've never lived anywhere else, so I don't have the comparison thing going for me.

 

And to be fair, Sacramento is sort of the Cali Texas. The rainy, redneck and military base version.

 

This train is just dumb though. Can fly from OC John Wayne to SFO for 100 bucks, in less than an hour.

[gocolts 300]

I'd actually use it to go LA when OldMaid and I hook up. Cheaper then flying or driving

Big!@#$#@!Sux

[Voltaire 5,196]

The last few times I've accidentally checked in on California news, the news is always bad. They're always broke and rubbing pennies together to pay for anything. They can't pay for their excellent world class University system, so what we read about the tuition hikes and the great gnashing of teeth and consternation and hand-wringing about possibly dismantling it. Meanwhile, in another story, the California National Guard troops have been totally de-funded and are now provide the worst benefits of any state in the country.

 

 

But, Hey Wait! Don't despair! Here's $98 Billion that magically materialized under the pillow! So now they happily squander it on bullsh*t.

[GettnHuge 2]

The last few times I've accidentally checked in on California news, the news is always bad. They're always broke and rubbing pennies together to pay for anything. They can't pay for their excellent world class University system, so what we read about the tuition hikes and the great gnashing of teeth and consternation and hand-wringing about possibly dismantling it. Meanwhile, in another story, the California National Guard troops have been totally de-funded and are now provide the worst benefits of any state in the country.

 

 

But, Hey Wait! Don't despair! Here's $98 Billion that magically materialized under the pillow! So now they happily squander it on bullsh*t.

 

4/18/2012

The state's top analyst on Tuesday urged lawmakers to slam the brakes on California's $68 billion bullet train, cautioning that the newly overhauled plan simply isn't "strong enough" and relies on "highly speculative" funding sources.

 

The report from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office is especially significant as the state Senate and Assembly on Wednesday begin a debate on whether to start building the high-speed rail line, a decision officials revealed Tuesday will likely be delayed into the summer. The report could give a divided Legislature the political cover it needs to halt the biggest public works project in California history; otherwise, lawmakers would have to go against the advice of their own experts.

 

As it has in previous reports over the past few years, the LAO is chiefly concerned that the state will not find the remaining $55 billion needed to complete the full project connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles by 2029. In addition to the federal grants, the state has $10 billion in voter-approved bond funds.

 

 

[Strike 5,186]

The last few times I've accidentally checked in on California news, the news is always bad. They're always broke and rubbing pennies together to pay for anything. They can't pay for their excellent world class University system, so what we read about the tuition hikes and the great gnashing of teeth and consternation and hand-wringing about possibly dismantling it. Meanwhile, in another story, the California National Guard troops have been totally de-funded and are now provide the worst benefits of any state in the country.

 

 

But, Hey Wait! Don't despair! Here's $98 Billion that magically materialized under the pillow! So now they happily squander it on bullsh*t.

 

It's all because the state is run by the unions. Guess who stands to benefit from this project? One of the legislators who actually voted against this funding yesterday, during his remarks, even noted that he was voting against it despite relying on unions for campaign funding. One of the few who actually did the right thing instead of what his union overlords told him to do.

[GettnHuge 2]

Was perusing Amtrack's financials today in salute to this. They had record ridership last year....and still lost almost a billion dollars.

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1241245669222

 

From the 2010 annual report:

Ticket revenue 1.74billion

wages and benefits cost 1.79billion

all other expenses, fuel, debt, etc: 1.95billion

 

They get a 5% annual raise.

Management salaries are 250million

 

 

I can't imagine how politically corrupt union employee salaries would be in cali for this craptrain.

[Baker Boy 1,688]

The project was approved by California voters in 2008, when the first phase, from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim, was aggressively planned to be up and running by 2020, at a cost of about $33 billion.

Now in 2024, the full length is nowhere close to being done, and the estimated cost to complete it has ballooned to as high as $128 billion, which is around $100 billion more than what the California High-Speed Rail Authority has budgeted to spend.

https://ktla.com/news/california/for-californias-bullet-train-progress-is-being-made-but-its-completion-date-remains-a-mystery/

[EternalShinyAndChrome 3,833]

1 hour ago, Baker Boy said:

The project was approved by California voters in 2008, when the first phase, from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim, was aggressively planned to be up and running by 2020, at a cost of about $33 billion.

Now in 2024, the full length is nowhere close to being done, and the estimated cost to complete it has ballooned to as high as $128 billion, which is around $100 billion more than what the California High-Speed Rail Authority has budgeted to spend.

https://ktla.com/news/california/for-californias-bullet-train-progress-is-being-made-but-its-completion-date-remains-a-mystery/

CA is going to have some of that quality 2008 choo-choo train tech! 

It's already obsolete and it's not even close to being done!