At last, a serious media response to all the pro- high speed rail
hype flooding the Bay Area newspapers. The Governor needs to hear
our concerns to reinforce his position. The more I think about this
project, the more it seems like a very bad dream, an evil, looming
juggernaut of unlimited costs that seems unstoppable, relentlessly
bearing down on us. Well, we need to let Sacramento know that we
wish to wake up and have it stopped.

TIMES EDITORIAL
Sidetrack rail system
Contra Costa Times
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched:05/10/2007 03:05:43 AM PDT

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER is hardly one to shy away from bold and
innovative ideas. He supported the state's $3 billion stem cell
research program, initiated the nation's most ambitious
greenhouse-gas-reduction program and has backed record-large
transportation and school bonds.
But it appears the governor knows the difference between a potential
boon and a boondoggle. Even though he says he still supports a
high-speed rail line from San Francisco to Southern California, he is
quietly killing the $40 billion program.
While a 220-mph train speeding from the Bay Area to Los Angeles and
San Diego may sound appealing, it is likely to be too costly, siphon
funds away from more worthy transportation projects and not attract
nearly the number of passengers to cover its operating costs.
Proponents of a high-speed rail system argue that the train could
have an annual operating surplus of as much as $2 billion by 2030.
Making such forecasts nearly a quarter-century in advance is futile.
Claims that passengers could get from the Bay Area to Los Angeles as
quickly on a high-speed train as on an airplane are flawed. It will
take most train riders as long to drive to the station as to the
airport. Train station security also is likely to be similar to that
of an airport.
The only difference is that the train will at best go 220 mph and
perhaps make a stop or two, whereas airplanes travel at least twice
as fast. It is also difficult to see how train fares will be
significantly less than airline tickets.
For example, Germany's Inter City Express charges $119 for a 360-mile
trip from Bremen to Nuremberg, 10 miles less than the San
Francisco-Los Angeles route. Fares in France are similar, despite
high ridership in a region with denser population than in California.
Air fares from the Bay Area to Los Angeles are as low as $49, and the
trip takes only about an hour. Why would any traveler pay more for a
slower trip?
Californians already have approved tens of billions of dollars for
transportation projects to improve highways and metropolitan transit
systems. More money is needed for those projects. It would be
irresponsible to use tens of billions of dollars on a questionable
high-speed rail system.
That is why Schwarzenegger is cutting money for the California
High-Speed Rail Authority in the 2007 budget. He also wants to
indefinitely postpone a $10 billion rail bond measure that supporters
want on the November 2008 ballot.
We hope he is successful in sidetracking the high-speed rail system.
It would make far more sense to spend the money on airport
improvements, roads and better urban transit.

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Martin Engel
1621 Stone Pine Lane
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650:323-1670
martinengel@earthlink.net
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