California High-Speed Rail

California High - Speed Rail is a project of the State of California to build a high-speed line between Sacramento and San Diego, which will connect the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles. The realization of the project was given on 4 November 2008 by a popular referendum with 9.95 billion U.S. dollars in seed capital in order.

2.1 phases

3.1 politician
3.2 stakeholders
3.3 Economics
3.4 people

4.1 environmentalists
4.2 Think tanks

History

Ever since the earlier 1990s, the Californian government tried to introduce a high-speed line, which should be legitimized by popular referendum. Fearing a " No" voters shifted to the referendum to last on November 4, 2008, the day of the presidential election and also the choice of the House of Representatives took place. " Proposition 1A ", which is supposed to guarantee $ 10 billion of taxpayers' money for the construction of a high speed line, supported 52 % of voters.

Financing

The construction costs are estimated by the CHSRA and Goldman Sachs to 42 billion U.S. dollars. In the first budget of 2008 is reported that 12 to 16 billion U.S. dollars will come from the federal budget of the United States and about 7.5 billion U.S. Doller from private investment, the remaining 10 billion U.S. dollars are to be borne by the cities and towns.

On October 2 handed Governor Schwarzenegger an application for construction grants in the amount of 4.7 billion U.S. Doller that are to be taken from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act budget. This is more than half of the 8 billion U.S. dollars, which are provided in this program for the high- speed traffic. On 28 October 2010 a financial commitment in the amount of 2.35 billion U.S. dollars was given from the White House. On October 28, 2010, the amount of 900 million U.S. dollars was raised, specifically designed for the track in the Central Valley. On 10 December 2010 grants for rail expansion that were not picked up by other States were slammed (including Wisconsin and Ohio), the CHSR. Overall, therefore, the subsidies from the federal budget amounted to 4.3 billion U.S. dollars.

High-speed line

The network is modeled on the successful high-speed networks, such as Shinkansen, TGV and other European railways, the line between large cities, the routes will be realigned to achieve the maximum speed while Engage in urban areas in existing railway tracks leading to this purpose be expanded. In many parts of the California High - Speed Rail trains will go on their own track to the operation not having to take slower moving local trains and freight trains consideration, only on the legs of San Jose - San Francisco and Anaheim - Los Angeles have the rails with conventional be shared trains. The initial plans called for the new lines at a speed of up to 250 mph (402 km / h), the current tender for the high-speed trains called at least 220 mph (350 km / h).

The train is the most important cities of California connect to one another, particularly the coastal cities. These are usually too far apart to take the car, but at the same time too close to them to travel by plane. In this way, an important economic niche in the infrastructure of the state is filled with the construction of the new network. According to the California High Speed Rail Authority a drive from San Francisco to Anaheim would take 2:57 hours. For comparison, the current Amtrak " Coast Starlight " need twelve hours from Oakland ( Bay of San Francisco ) to Los Angeles. After expanding a drive from Sacramento ( northernmost station ) to San Diego ( southern station ) is expected to take 3:35 hours. The cost of the California High - Speed Rail should be about $ 40 billion to completion in 2030. 9.9 billion were provided by the California population by referendum already. Additional costs are to be borne by government funds at the federal level and the state level and private investors. The stimulus package under Obama's government will provide an additional $ 8 billion for high -speed trains, of which a large proportion will go to the already saved project in California. In the established operation of the complete high -speed rail line is expected a profit of 1 billion U.S. dollars per year.

Construction phases

The first sections in the 2013-2017 period can rely on federal funding, so ten billion U.S. dollars are provided for the expansion and modernization of the railway network in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Since other states will not retrieve these resources largely (due to the negative attitude of republican governments to the railroad ), flow alone of which about 3.6 billion U.S. dollars in California projects.

As the first new stretch of the initial construction phase, the connection from Merced to Fresno was announced, the construction of engineering structures is carried out by the Tutor Perini / Zachry / Parsons joint venture for nearly one billion (20 % below the expected costs). The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for July 2013. When completed in 2017, this section may with the first pairs of trains already go into operation ( as part of the San Joaquin line between Bakersfield and Sacramento ).

The route is subsequently extended from Fresno to Bakersfield and put into operation. Even before that will be expanded in the San Francisco Bay Area, about a new station built in San Jose, where the new trains will arrive. The electrification of the Caltrain is planned for 2015 - virtually all routes are currently not electrified, but is a requirement to be necessary to have the new high-speed trains over it to the inner cities. Another plan section is the expansion of the Altamont Commuter Express from 2015 ( the " Super -ACE " ), which then serves as the feed line up to 150 mph - so a connection from San Jose, with changing from Caltrain, up to Merced, transition to the new lines through the Valley, created.

South of Bakersfield, there are no railway connection through the Tehachapi Mountains (in the Bay Area is located ) from the San Fernando Valley ( with Los Angeles) which separate the San Joaquin Valley. ( There is only a single track very curvy rail freight over the Tehachapi Loop in the Mojave Desert ). This new line of Bakersfield via Palmdale to Los Angeles to be built by 2021, commissioning of the connection from the Bay Area to Los Angeles can be expected to apply from 2022. The new building on the Tehachapi Pass parallel to State Road 58 is the most expensive part of the entire project - from Palmdale there is already a Metrolink route suburb on the Antelope Valley Line to Los Angeles.

The next phase is from 2021 right up to the Bay Area extend to about 2026 new lines ( between Gilroy, the southern end of the Caltrain, and Fresno with the new lines would have in the meantime trains in a freight train from Union Pacific swivel ). Following this is followed by a phase in which the train service south of Los Angeles is extended to Anaheim, a start-up is expected for 2028 here.

Further sections are not currently in the planning stage. It is planned to extend south of Los Angeles on Riversdale to San Diego along the route of the Pacific Surfliner. In the northern area will be extended from Merced to Sacramento via Stockton. Both compounds can be reached by then over old trails.

The Xpress West ( formerly Desert Xpress ) is not part of the plan CaHSR plant and is operated independently. In the first works of this plan was carried out to Victorville, then there is already a connection on a valley route to Los Angeles. In the last revision in 2012, however, a continuation is now scheduled through the desert to Palmdale, making a transition to both the California High - Speed Rail and Metrolink line suburb of Los Angeles is created.

Supporters of the project

Costly projects are not generally in favor of the California population. However, both the Republican Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as the vast majority of Democrats (including MPs Fiona Ma) and a significant portion of the Republican Representatives in the Capitol California and well-known politicians in California and other states support the project. The broad support for California High - Speed Rail is based on several reasons.

Politician

Politicians advocate the cost savings of an 800 miles ( 1287 km ) long high- speed line in comparison to the construction and / or maintenance of airports or highways. As an example, the expansion of Interstate 5 in the Central Valley highways to four lanes in each direction 20-25 Milliarden dollar would cost. By 2030, the population of California will have grown to 52 million. The cost to maintain or to build a new highway would break the budget of the government, result would be additional traffic congestion.

Stakeholders

On the other hand advocate stakeholders, such as the famous Sierra Club, the high-speed line, since it is the only environmentally -friendly alternative to passenger aircraft, and Highways. A high-speed train would not only lead to savings in carbon dioxide emissions, but also reduce air pollution.

Economy

From an economic standpoint California should also benefit. It is estimated that more than 160,000 jobs will be created due to the construction of a mostly completely new infrastructure that deal solely with the planning, designing and construction. More estimated 450,000 long-term jobs will be created in the new main railway stations through the conservation of distance or indirectly by shops and hotels.

Population

From the perspective of the population, the new high-speed line offers an alternative to the car, which is always attractive especially with the rising gasoline prices. Since the train, according to the California High Speed Rail Authority, an estimated 92 million passengers per year will carry, it also relieves the streets and thus commuters who would otherwise spend even more time stuck in traffic. Congestion costs already Californians $ 20 billion a year in lost time and wasted gasoline.

Last hoped for through the expansion of public transport less energy dependence on the OPEC countries.

Opponents of the project

However, some voices against California High - Speed Rail by both conservative politicians, and environmentalists charge.

Environmentalist

Thus, the Planning and Conservation League Foundation provides to the planned route. She fears that the route run through pristine wilderness and thus disturb the flora and especially fauna. Alternatively, it suggests a route which runs in terms of the bundling route along existing highways or existing rail lines to obtain forests and farmland.

Think tanks

Think tanks such as the libertarian Reason Foundation hold the forecasts for the number of riders and the cost of the construction is wrong. According to the calculations of the think tank of the construction of the complete range 65-81 billion dollars cost, compared with the $ 40 billion that was forecast by the California High Speed Rail Authority. In addition, it is estimated the number of passengers per year 23 to 31 million compared to 92 million which would mean a loss of 4.17 billion dollars per year.

189370