Comments on: California’s high-speed train wreck potentially not a metaphor. Update: about those profitable EU rails

By: Ty Manning

Ty Manning — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 11:27:31 +0000

“Prop 1A is a worthless bill of goods.”

NOT TRUE. The train is leaving the station and it will be perfectly SAFE. It will travel as fast as they want it to.

These incredible trains have set world speed records of 300 miles per hour in China and France with no problems at all. That professor just wants to justify his salary.

By: Steph

Steph — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 03:37:26 +0000

@Polly…sadly, you are right. Since BART has been running in the Bay Area, the taxpayer has funded it. We pay higher sales taxes in the counties where it runs plus a “fee” in property taxes in those same counties. What is infuriating is that we in East Contra Costa County have been paying for BART for over 40 years and it took 30 just to get it to Pittsburg (not even close to the really “east” part of the county). I can’t see that it has really helped traffic congestion either plus, as a past rider, it is expensive! Yes, it’s cheaper than daily parking in the Oakland and SF but still expensive. We no more need a “bullet train” than we need a bullet in our head. We can’t afford it but the liberals simply refuse to stop spending money the state doesn’t have. As California goes, the nation goes. Beware!

By: Polly

Polly — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:37:33 +0000

Kalifornia is in the process of destroying itself. Much of Kalifornia’s prosperity is due to agriculture yet the high speed rail will put many ranchers out of business. The rails will cut many farms and ranches in half necessitating traveling long distances to reach a crossing and rendering half if not all of a ranchers property unprofitable and unmanageable.

You knew when they re elected governor moonbeam that the financial collapse was ever nearer.

By: Milwaukee

Milwaukee — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 16:23:16 +0000

There are physical phenomenon, such as sound, which decrease as the inverse of the square of the distance. So, if you are twice the distance, you get one-fourth of the volume. Going the other direction, increases in speed might cause quadratic or exponential growth in damaging vibrations. That is, doubling the speed could cause four times the damage, or more. Of course, the structures would need to be at least 4 times as strong.

The United States Army has specially trained truck drives who can drive tractor-trailers across bridges with neither shifting or braking, around 1 or 2 miles-per-hour. War time bridges might be stretching safety limits, and either braking or shifting can cause enough stress to collapse a bridge.

Railroads work really well for cargo, where speed isn’t such an important factor.

Common sense. Can’t deny it and can’t defy it.

By: Drew the Infidel

Drew the Infidel — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:43:51 +0000

What is missing is a fundamental understanding of capitalism; in a socialist-oriented state is that any wonder? Simply stated, where there is a market, service it. (“Thieves Alley” in Tokyo has some of the most finely crafted brass knuckles on earth.) Where no market exists for a good or service, create one. In other words, convince broke Californians they really need this but just did not know it. Ain’t happening.