Yesterday brought some routine news about California's bullet train: it would cost more and be finished later than expected. Yawn. Today, however, brings some genuinely entertaining news: our train to nowhere will also be running on a single track. This seems like a problem since trains need to go in both directions, but the train executives say there's nothing to worry about:
The agency said the Central Valley cutback would not have an operational impact in early train service, because not many trains would be running and they could move off the single track at stations to allow approaching trains to pass.
So not only will this train go from nowhere to nowhere, but it will be distinctly non-bullety because it has to pull off the track regularly. I swear, this is becoming something like an Abbot and Costello routine. It's getting to be literally insane that anyone continues to vote to fund this white elephant.
If this is a first step toward a monorail, I approve.
& no, this is not a Simpsons riff. The monorail is just the next iteration of a Chicago elevated model.
(The L & Metra are the only urban mass rail that gets it right, outside of DC Metro. I also support the people mover at the Detroit airport.)
I don't think DC metro was "done right". They underestimated usage, failing to build in dual tracks to allow for express trains from the outer stations, there's too few Potomac River crossings and the stupid Silver Line, really, really, really should have been buried not above ground in Tysons and the Dulles station should really be AT the airport not a long, long hike always from the terminal. Also lots of shenanigans with the construction of the second phase of the Silver Line.
And I say this as a fan of Metro, it could have been so much more but for a lack of support by Republican congresses.
Seems like they're half-way towards the correct solution here.
Parts of Trimet's Max lines are single-track. While not a bullet train, it's not difficult for Trimet to coordinate timing of Max trains traveling in opposite directions while maintaining full speed traffic.
Single tracking just means you can't run as many trains and you may have some cascading delays because once a train goes off schedule, one or more trains are going to have to wait on sidings. On the other hand, many of the world's passenger and freight services do operate on single tracks for at least portions of the route. It's not the end of the world.
The problem is the problems Drum identified in the earlier posts. The huge cost overruns. The fact that they don't know how to get from Los Angeles to Bakersfield. The fact that land is so expensive. The fact that they envisioned building a fast train between Bakersfield and Merced and then blackmailing the taxpayers into funding the more expensive parts. Etc.
Wikipedia says TriMet has just under 100 km of track, and 94 stations. It definitely is not a bullet train; it's light rail. I'm curious how they manage to coördinate timing when trains within city centers must stop for traffic lights. Are the traffic lights tied into the block-control system? And how are delays in boarding and deboarding not disruptive?
Trains have priority traffic light signal; everything on that end is (mostly) automated, though every train has an operator who can then hit higher speeds if need be to keep the schedule.
The schedule is extremely dependable to the minute, except in snow, extreme heat, and the occasional accident caused by a bad driver or inattentive pedestrian.
If you had two tracks think how confused Republicans would be about it.
In other California news,
Devin Nunes is locked out of his Twitter account after he failed the Captcha,
https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-suspends-devin-nunes-anti-spam-filter-recaptcha-2021-2
Those can be tricky. Probably something like picking out the patriots from the Nazis.
Putting names like a colored man like Nunes and Nazi together is weird. Maybe you need to whiff smelling salts.
Posting this one to Selfawarewolves,
https://old.reddit.com/r/SelfAwarewolves/
Ya see, you just have to build tracks on top of one of top of one of the trains, and everything is fine,
In for a dime, in for a Trillion, I guess.
Sorry Kevin, but are you seriously suggesting a single track will seriously limit the traffic between Bakersfield and Merced?
It won't assuming a dedicated passenger line, but it will mean that any delays will cascade because trains will have to wait on sidings. Which isn't ideal if you are advertising a high speed train.
As I said above, this is not nearly as big a problem as all the other stuff that is wrong with the project though.
High speed rail lines are by definition dedicated passenger lines.
No, they are not 'by definition'. High speed just refers to the speed.
Unless they're planning on running one single train up and back each time to avoid having to pull over every so often to let an opposing train pass, this will essentially be...just like the Amtrak that already serves the San Joaquin Valley.
Sigh. In a few years, we'll all be arguing about how to repurpose the track footprint into a multipurpose greenspace/parkway anyway, so I suppose it really doesn't matter.
A fast train between Sacramento and Fresno at least makes some kind of sense. I find it hard to believe there is any demand for a fast train from Fresno to Bakersfield so I doubt that one track will make any difference. Maybe they’ll go from on track to no tracks next.
Baltimore built a light rail line with good portions being single track (for budget reasons)
. It was not efficient, limited service, and eventually more money had to be spent to improve it.
It could be that someday, California will have fast rail connecting its largest cities. Not soon, but someday. However, even then, for (perhaps) the same money or less, I personally would rather have an ample conventional rail system covering the whole state, with passenger trains running on dedicated passenger tracks. A conventional passenger train on a good track can cruise at up to 120 mph or so, and if well-connected, that'd be far better than a single high speed trail route.
What's the problem - robots will be in charge of scheduling so the trains will pass each other at appropriate times and there will be no slowups. Has Kevin lost his faith in AE?
It's time to admit Kevin's been right about this all along. This doesn't obviate the (in my opinion very strong) case for high speed rail in general. Every time I ride one here in China I muse about how Americans have no idea what they're missing. And the California project clearly features some technical issues related to geography that render it a not-very-good example of where HSR should be built. But again, Kevin warned us about this.
I know a lot of people are tempted to blame "politics" or "political dysfunction" or "lack of a federal commitment" or what have you. Fair play. But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln...
It's too bad that the first major HSR project in America wasn't greenighed for the Texas Triangle, say, or BosWash...
There's a private HSR project moving forward in Texas to connect Dallas and Houston. Sadly, however, from what I can tell at least, it will likely be a huge failure. I'm convinced something as complex and impactful as HSR needs extensive coordination at a state and national level (as opposed to ad-hoc ventures like this one in TX) in order to succeed.
One of the tragedies of this is it will have a discrediting effect on HSR generally, when there other parts of the country where it could work fine.
That's pretty crazy. At MOST any sections of single track of a high-speed system should be kept to an absolute minimum and then only due to insurmountable technical (rather than financial) constraints. Dedicated, two-track routes and off-grade crossings are two of the most important requirements for a successful high-speed system in the long term.
I guess we can chalk this up a little bit to US inexperience in this area, but even that's no real excuse since the technology has been well established for decades. Hell, Spain, which is similar both climatically and geographically to California, went from being a rail backwoods to building the longest high-speed system in Europe in under thirty years. I hope Buttigieg will take a good long look at what's happened in California and adopt appropriate measures when creating a strategy for Biden's high-speed proposal (of which I'm a huge advocate).
Hard to disagree with Kevin’s ongoing crusade against the Bakersfield-Merced super boondoggle. But bullet trains are great! The Shinkansen in Japan is the best way to get from A to B in the world, with the possible exception of sailing, which I admit would be less-than-optimal in the Central Valley, as it would, alas, between Tokyo and Kyoto. But rather than continuing to point out the obvious insanity of the current high-speed project, why couldn’t Kevin devote his very considerable brain power to figuring out how it could be made to work non-insanely. So many other countries have done it — why can’t we have nice things here in the US?
We know how to do it non-insanely. Do it in a different place (such as upgrading the Acela corridor or doing Dallas to Houston or Chicago to Detroit, St. Louis, Milwaukee, etc.).
The problem is there is huge path dependence here, and the political sell required to pack up and start over somewhere else is giant.
If I understand this, you have two trains on a single track coming towards each other at 200 miles per hour, but there is no worry because one of them will get to a station and pull onto a siding just in time. If not, "come round the bend/you know it's the end/the fireman screams/and the engine just gleams."
There are specific issues going from Bakersfield to Los Angeles that Spain doesn't face.
One of the big mistakes people make is "they built it in X therefore they can build it in Y". There are some unique issues in California.
I don't know-- streetsblog seems pretty convinced that you're relying on a journalist who's misreading a tender document. I know they're often blind boosters of CalHSR, but they're pretty convincing in this case. And it seems highly unlikely that this is what will actually be built, considering the changed federal climate.
https://sf.streetsblog.org/2021/02/10/feds-love-californias-bullet-train/