This is perfect!

http://theerrantaesthete.com/2008/02/04/return-of-rails/

I have been arguing that the high speed train will be a luxury train, a train for the well-to-do. I have also accused all the promoters of emotional blindness; the blindness of "THE ROMANCE OF RAILROADS."

Note the language in the web site about the pleasures of train riding. The blogger's sub-text is "Essentials for the Cocktail Swilling Savant." Exactly. What better description of the intended ridership for this train!

This high speed train will not serve the blue-collar, working classes as a commuter train. It will not be a mass transit modality. The people of California who need urban mass transit the most will be the least served by this train. That is the great paradox: the most expensive infrastructure project in history will serve only a handful of those who least need it. The dramatic projections of population increase over the next 25 years do not specify what their economic and employment levels will be, what sector of the state economy they will occupy. Shouldn't that also be a factor in what we spend our money on as we look at the total state infrastructure and its needs?

The "wise-old-men-in-suits" who make high speed train decisions have rejected the more populous route of the Altamont option to run directly through Silicon Valley, home of the nouveau riche.

Do you want to pay for such a train, because, with a bond issue, you surely will? This is no way to spend precious financial resources in a time of economic crisis, both in the State and in the Nation. We are a State in deep debt. Do we want or need another mortgage for expensive toys for the rich? I don't think so.

The distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco, according to several Google sites, is 400 miles. The $40 billion, are intended to build a rail corridor between these two major cities. (Sacramento and San Diego will be built later.) That works out to $100 million dollars per mile. And, we already know that these are low-ball numbers. Doesn't that seem excessive?

Martin

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


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