Cali Dreaming - Bullet Trains

[John]

https://dnyuz.com/2022/10/09/how-californias-bullet-train-went-off-the-rails/

LOS ANGELES — Building the nation’s first bullet train, which would connect Los Angeles and San Francisco, was always going to be a formidable technical challenge, pushing through the steep mountains and treacherous seismic faults of Southern California with a series of long tunnels and towering viaducts.

But the design for the nation’s most ambitious infrastructure project was never based on the easiest or most direct route. Instead, the train’s path out of Los Angeles was diverted across a second mountain range to the rapidly growing suburbs of the Mojave Desert — a route whose most salient advantage appeared to be that it ran through the district of a powerful Los Angeles county supervisor.

[mu26aeh]

Just a quick read, and I immediately thought of this

[C855B]

Heh. The diverging section they're talking about was to be through my home town. Gosh - I knew the proposal was doomed several years ago on hearing about the push for the reroute, which was very similar to SP's L.A-Bakersfield line through Tehachapi.

But then, even skipping the Antelope Valley, the Tejon Pass cut-through to Bakersfield is one humongous fault zone. The San Andreas, Santa Ynez, San Gabriel, Garlock and two lesser faults all intersect in or near the pass.

[Englewood]

Too bad this thing will probably never be finished. But they got a lot further than the one here in Texas. I don't think Texas Central ever had any money for construction.

[dem34]

Well, I was kind of dubious when in the time it took Brightline to Start up service, build out an extension to near completion and rebuild a regional freight line. CHSR had only just wrapped up construction of a single of a few dozen crazily overbuilt overpass Pergulas.

[sirenwerks]

The route into the Mojave reminds me of WMATA trying to plan into the University of Maryland College Park, where one University salaried engineer kept the entire university from convenient service forever and costs the system millions extra.