Archive for January 27th, 2006

2006.01.27

Bite the Bullet Train

Right now there is a bond measure up for the November 2006 elections to fund high speed rail in California. It’s a great idea, and will be important in the future as fuel and energy costs go up and people can’t afford to travel by car and air like they are used to today. Unfortunately the measure is in trouble and might never even get started.

Americans love their cars. I’m no exception. However when I started driving gas costed 80 cents a gallon. Tonight I paid $2.45. Prices are only going to go up; gasoline is a finite resource. Eventually it will cost too much for me to drive and I’ll give up the car.

At that point, if I want to visit SoCal, how will I get there? If I can’t afford the car I doubt I’d be able to buy a plane ticket. Trains, if they are built correctly and run on something aside from fossil fuels, are pretty inexpensive.

The Governor recently proposed all kinds of infrastructure improvements for California. Among the improvements was for our road system. To me it makes far more sense to invest (or go further in debt as it looks like his proposals actually would do) in transportation that has longevity. Pour those billions of dollars into research for actual electric engines powered by hydrogen or into trains.

For more information about trains visit the California Hi Speed Rail Authority. Thanks to Alan for inspiring this entry. His email is below the fold.

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