It's obvious that you spent alot of time on this video, it really shows. Fantastic, and probably the best overview of the entire project that I've ever seen.
It takes people who actually care, and not think someone else should built it with someone else’s money all while they look and take credit for it If the people part of the project loved this, the people paying for it loved this, and over all the people wanted it, this would be a different project. Right now it’s just another job for many.
You really hit a chord with how all our most iconic and beloved infrastructure is from the 30s, and how it is pathetic we haven’t achieved anything similar since.
What's insane is how the US went from having the best public transportation in the world, especially our rail networks, to one of the worst in the developed world.
Nice job presenting a very difficult project; the California High Speed Rail. Having had a 45 year career as a subdivider/developer in the Antelope Valley (Palmdale - Lancaster area). When the idea of a high speed rail system was first proposed I was excited about the possibilities of what a train like that could do for that area. Today I am more excited than ever seeing that the first segments of the system are coming into a completion phase, and the Bakersfield to Palmdale segment has cleared the EIR. I am confident that the train will be built and within the relative time frame that has been set out. Who knows how things will work out, remember, Los Angeles Hosts the Summer Olympics Games in 2028 and the political powers would love to crow over a new operational High Speed Train system allowing Northern Californians the opportunity to attend the games.
I 100% agree! Also, thanks! This was one of the most difficult videos I’ve made, because the project is so massive, and it’s so reviled by so many people. Striking a relevant tone and deciding what to include was a bit of a challenge lol
AI and autonomous vehicle technology will never let high speed passenger rail reach any level of success in the US. Autonomous vehicles are now at the dawn of a new private vehicle revolution which will change everything.
Palmdale will benefit more if a Vegas to Victorville high speed train gets an extension to Palmdale to capture those wanting SF, central valley to Vegas trip via 2 hsr lines.
@@TohaBgood2 AI is paid for by the sure prize of technical dominance. $100 billion + trains are just drain on the economy with no hope of a pay off.. everyone know that. It was doomed from the start. AI is here and now no turning back.
@@michaelmccarthy4615 autonomous vehicles will still need roads, which tend to get pretty crowded during normal economic times in the Bay Area and LA County. Then it remains to be seen if the current AI tech is ready for prime time.
Just a note about Japan: The plugs in Japan are physically the same, and quite similar to the US ones. However, the AC transmission frequency is different, with the North/East using 50 Hz and the South/West using 60 Hz. Typically in Japan it's not usually an issue since electronic equipment can use either frequency, but the grid transfer capacity between both regions is somewhat limited.
Biggest physical difference is the lack of a ground on the plug, so plugs are all 2 prong instead of 3. Conversion is super easy between US and Japanese plugs, you can easily find 3 to 2 prong converters and about the only common thing people use that causes issues are hair dryers.
@@neilworms2 In Germany, don't know about rest of continent or GB, the plugs are not polarized. It kinda scares hell outa me. It's 220 per leg, you probably know. Hmmm, I don;t know what the potential is between hot legs, 440? =:-O
@@inyobill The potential is 240v still. Unlike the US, Europe doesn't use a center tap to create a neutral. The US is only 120v because they split the 240v into 2 120v phases. In fact, there are breakers that you can get that use the 2 hots rather than a hot and the neutral, giving you a 240v circuit.
Honestly if we had High speed rail, I'd never fly again. Absolutely detest it. Seeing this project come along is inspiring and makes me optimistic. So many people are pessimists about this project but I'm hopeful since so much has been done so far.
@@TohaBgood2 trains are good people movers; I rode with Thalys from Paris to Dusseldorf and it was a a great experience, and I didn't have to worry about getting there 4 hours early.
For the people who are afraid to fly (unless they _really_ have to, like on a trip across the oceans), this is a much better alternative, especially if you don't have to travel more than halfway across the country. So long as they have Wi-Fi, I could ride a train for at least 3 hours at 125mph (which is _the_ benchmark for a bullet train) or faster.
I'm glad you're watermarking your videos! your drone coverage of this is spectacular and there's no doubt that news orgs will try to rip it for their use
Haha, perhaps. The authority has plenty of well done videos as well, my angle is showing the whole project. Most people won’t know how difficult it was to film the southern five miles of CP 2-3, but I’m sure someone will appreciate seeing it lol
Funny the whole thing somehow. Your first track is under construction and plagued by many disputes. And we in Germany are overhauling our high-speed rail for the first time since construction. But it's nice to see how things are going with you as well. At home here in Berlin, the expansion of the Dresden Railway is also moving forward. Here, the new long-distance railway tracks including bridges on Berlin territory have to be rebuilt. It should be ready in 2025. Then the trains from Hamburg to Dresden, Prague and Budapest will take the direct route from Berlin and will no longer have to take detours. The fact that there are still no long-distance railway tracks between Berlin-Südkreuz and Blankenfelde is still due to the Cold War and political disputes after the fall of the Wall. I'm filming the project in Berlin. Greetings from Berlin/ Germany. Sven
German rail lines are the ones blocking everyone else in europe, It's at the geographic center, but there is no through lines. I can't go from northen europe to france or spain easily by train, I have to change trains a lot, wait, a lot and pay way too much money. German network is only connected inside the country, it doesn't link very well with the neighboring countries. I hope european railways will become integrated, I really hate traveling by plane.
"German rail lines are the ones blocking everyone else in europe," They seem to do everything to not to do much with regards to rail connections with neighbours. Strong car lobby, eh Sven?
@@z00h Jep, strong car lobby. And this has been going on since the 60s. When I look at the drama about the Rhine Valley Railway Karlsruhe-Basel, I could only puke. Completion on the German side in 2041. The access route to the Brenner Base Tunnel... completion open. Railway line Lübeck-Island Fehmarn... very big ? And the Berlin-Frankfurt/Oder line has been under construction since 1990 to upgrade it at 160 km/h...But it's no wonder with these smears as Minister of Transport
I still remember voting for this in college. So crazy it hasn't been completed yet, living in Japan at the moment makes me realize how important having a strong rail network is.
It's not crazy. It's situation normal for California projects - over budget and behind schedule If there was popular demand for rail service, Amtrak would have budget surpluses.
A failed not so high speed train to no where is not going to build support. The two large metros should be served with the shortest cheapest route near I-5 with four stops In total to preserve true high speeds. Two stops in the Bay Area, two stops in the LA area. The central valley presently have Amtrak services, why build a very expensive high speed rail through urban Central Valley cities? Furthermore, high speed rail commands first class fares, not coach fares. California would have been better off allowing SNCF to build their new high speed train adjacent to I-5 a decade ago, that high speed train would be running today... But noooooo, politicians and politics robbed California...
Fore my that's for the lack of it being not finished and this bull about bug threat thank the last a hole in the wite house if people wront scared yes it would be finished so think on that
It's going to do the opposite! Operating costs will be thru the roof and each train will either have insane ticket costs that no one will pay or will burn cash. No one is travelling between those cities can afford an express train. They will drive their pickup truck
@@skiparkcityut Think CA would be smart enough to make the tickets cheap through different means. Only way operating costs would be thru the roof is if the authority decides to be more "high tech" in everything or by approving the cheapest contract for rolling stock as they did with bridge construction (you probably know how that went).
@@ronclark9724 Largely agreed with the stops, honestly way too many stops in the central valley. The worst part is sharing a corridor with commuter trains as we literally could build an independent high speed corridor in BOTH LA and SF for the current cost. Sadly politics is politics, the high speed line would have been completed a decade sooner if it weren't for that (and be way more cheap).
As someone that has lived in California for over 40 years, I really hope this project completes. I would love to be able to take this to see my parents, and would visit them way more often than I currently do.
You are turning me into to a train and infrastructure nerd and I love it. When I have to demonstrate why we need to finish this project I point my browser to your youtube channel. Thanks and I look forward to more videos.
As a structural engineer on the east coast it sure is interesting to see construction on such a large scale where roads can just be moved and there's room for massive structures. That dirt pile at the north end of the station is being used for settlement of the soil. Abutments are heavy and the soil would start sinking little by little. A massive dirt pile at that location puts the weight on the soil before the abutment is built so that by the time the rails are placed and trains are running, the soil already had a chance to settle.
A long time ago the US love to ride the train. Now, the high-speed rail system is underway, and I believe the Shinkansen high-speed rail will be a POWER of transportation in the US. Welcome aboard.
One point for rail travel in general that I think is under represented is that pretty much no matter the circumstance, you can do work, read, or whatever for your entire time in the vehicle as well as that you get decent legroom and flexibility. Planes are cramped, noisy, and a ton of hassle, driving is an exercise in stress management and paying constant attention. I personally never have any reason to go to LA, but system-wide improvements, including cities improving their bike, bus, and light rail infrastructure so that connection to HSR, can only do to make rail travel easier and more convenient to all of us. I'd take the Capitol Corridor to SF all the time if it were easier to get to!
The reason that your airplane seat has no legroom is to keep the cost of travel down and operate a profitable service. There are plenty of improvements planned along the Capitol Corridor to improve speed and reduce the overall travel time.
I am rooting for California to complete this! This will also help with the housing crisis, and it will be an economical and popularity boost for cities along the HSR lines. And maybe - hopefully - this will inspire other states to follow suit with similar projects.
I have to say that I agree it's time for California to finish this project. This is a very smart investment to the country. This will revolutionize the country in a lot of ways economically. It will reduce congestion on Freeways, enable to mobilize a new work force from a more cost saving region. Being able to connect with Brightline going into Las Vegas will make both States an economic boom tourist, and work force commuting. Doing this one thing would create thousands of jobs. Connecting Larger cities to smaller cities in rural areas saving time and money. Thousands of new businesses will open as a result of this project. Holiday travel will become easier.
That pile of dirt that disappeared to be replaced with a piling may have been there as a weight to compress the land that the piling would go in to. A common sight in Vancouver is a pyramid of dirt with the top 1/3 or so covered in tarps held down by used tires; after two years or so it gets removed and they start building the foundation of a high-rise.
Thanks for update. I drive SR99 on a regular basis past several of these projects but don’t have the overhead view. I wish California HSR Authority provided as complete overviews as your annual updates. Thanks again.
Thanks for coming back to CA to do an update on the CAHSR. Even the rail authority doesn't even have a good educational video like this to show to everyone.
The passion you have in this video is why I love your channel. You pretty much summed up everything I argue about WHY high speed rail is needed in this country. Thanks again for this video. I have been waiting for it all year.
@@TheFourFoot I don't care how long they are. I think a lot of politicians in this country need to follow your channel...or at least their constituents.
Gwangmyeong, I’m the south of the Seoul metro area. That train was a KTX 1, which of course was a TGV. Several of the sets were built in France. I have a video of footage from the station from 2016. It’s one of my earliest lol
Anyone who's driven 5 between the Bay Area and LA knows how congested it's become. The number of traffic clogging trucks alone has made it a difficult and frustrating drive. Flying is no longer easy as the flight time may be short, but everything involved with air travel takes much much more time than the actual flight itself. Rail is the way to go, with it speed, flexibly and minimal environmental impact, it's been long overdue. The presentation was well done.
it won't be long and cars will drive themselves. Convoys of cars going 150 mph will make rail even more obsolete than it is now. Cars can go everywhere, trains are limited by the EXPENSIVE tracks.
@@TheBandit7613 A train is A BUNCH OF CARS CONNECTED TOGETHER LMFAOOOO. Auto cars need expensive freeways because each automobile is a huge object that is used by an average 1 1/3 people
I'm a highway engineer, and I can confirm that adding lanes do not solve traffic congestion, and at times, making it worse. Seems count-intuitive, but it's a fact of life. I won't go into why, but Google has plenty of explanations if you want to know more.
Great video and thank you for including SI/metric units as well. Hopefully this project progresses quickly so Bakersfield to Merced HSR segment is complete. The most difficult part will be the routing to the SF Bay Area. The preferred routing to Gilroy is probably the best since it avoids built-up areas but it is also quite difficult since it needs to cross the Diablo Range near Pacheco Pass. Looking forward to future updates, it's interesting you're covering this living all the way over in Nebraska - thanks for the dedication!
Another informative and well researched video. Again, as I've said before, your videos more clearly show just how complex this huge public infrastructure project is and why we need it not only for CA, but the nation too. Well done.
Thanks for the video. I just came back from Europe. I took the high speed rail Eurostar from Paris to London. It was so much easier, enjoyable experience. You put your luggage on a rack or overhead capartment. The seats were comfortable. The bathrooms on board were more spacious and clean than the ones on the plane. But best of all, going through security and customs is much more faster and easier at the train station than at the airport. When I flew from Frankfurt Germany to LAX I had to go through 3 customs checks! Believe me, while I was riding the Eurostar high speed rail, the thought that came to my mind was, why is this not in America? It was an awesome experience. A flight from Paris to London os an hour and 15 minutes, whereas a train ride is 2 hours and 30 minutes. Still, they drop you off in the middle of the city where airports are usually towards the end of a city. As for CA, can you make a video on the efforts to bring high speed rail from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Believe me, my only concern is will I able to get a ticket when a line between those 2 cities is established. P.S. the only negative about traveling the Eurostar star was the price. I admit I got the ticket at the last minute. But, a round trip ticket cost me 450 Euros, which translate to almost 500 US dollars. The plane would have been a little cheaper. If this high speed rail is to work ot needs to be not only a better experience from start to finish, and I have not doubt it would be, but it needs to be a little cheaper than the plane ticket. I went on and purchased the tickets to see what it was like to ride a high speed rail.
What's clear from your video is that the High Speed Rail project is clearly a "road improvement project." Seeing the number of highways and roadways being reconstructed for cars, and not HSR, show why the costs of the project have continued to escalate. I'd be curious to see a breakdown of how much of the HSR budget is actually going into roads and utilities. While it's great that this capacity is being built, seeing the flyover of the Bakersfield station is one of the major reasons I'm concerned about the effectiveness of this project - it looks to be in a completely industrial area / likely transit desert. While I'm sure some local transit will be rerouted, it looks like there's almost nothing around the area, showing that those renderings of the "reinvigorated area" likely a pipe dream if one still needs a car to get around the area. Are there plans for a mixed-use development around the HSR station?
Yeah, you’re not wrong. Particularly if this project doesn’t get completed and trains actually start running, it will be all about roads. Yes there are plans to develop the areas around stations, particularly in Fresno, where much of the land around the station has been cleared. Bakersfield however has been much less receptive to HSR, which is why the station will be built on the edge of town and not the center. Bakersfield however didn’t have any problem sacrificing neighborhoods for the new freeway that’s being built, though…
What you describe happens with all HSR projects around the world in populated areas with existing public infrastructure like roads, bridges, and highways. I'm surprised you wouldn't have thought that would be the case. And more of these kinds of mitigations will take place the closer the project construction gets to major cities. In fact, studies are happening now in L.A. about what current crossings will have to be completely grade separated that will then result in rerouting existing roads, etc. Many of the early train stations in the 20s were not necessarily built in areas with high density of businesses or residences. They tended to be at the edge of what then was perceived to be the cities boundaries. I'm sure you've seen many videos where you see the train station/stop in kind of an isolated location. Forward decades later and the train station is now surrounded by a whole bunch of stuff. That will happen in Bakersfield too.
@@TheFourFoot Noting the new developments around BART stations I feel like we can successfully develop the area after high speed rail has been completed. California needs more housing so this would definitely help.
The Bakersfield HSR station will be a ten minute walk to downtown and many restaurants, a five minute Uber ride to hotels, museums, and other entertainment options. It's also right next to a major highway. It's not exactly a "transit desert." I happen to pass by the area on my daily commute and know the area well.
I just want these trains to be finished so that airlines can stop destroying my wheelchair and delaying my departure. Imagine being forced to wait an extra 30 minutes to an hour for someone to unload your wheelchair and cramp you into a small isle chair, only to find out they broke something. Never had that kind of experience when taking the Sunrail in Orlando.
I'm so sorry to hear this. How heavy is your wheelchair? I worked for the airlines, and those heavy wheelchairs all have to be handled by hand. I remember when we were unloading a very heavy electric wheelchair once, and the worker in the baggage bin didn't set the brakes before putting it on the belt loader. That wheelchair came ripping down the belt and almost hit me. Had it hit me, I would have definitely had broken bones or possibly killed. I was horrified after seeing it land on its side on the ramp. I know this is someone's legs, and I knew it was damaged. Then there were other situations where we would get it offloaded and had to take it to the other side of the airport to get it up the elevator, then get it all the way to the gate so we could give it to the passenger. This sometimes took 20 minutes or more. A few things I would like to see happen is better instructions on how to handle the wheelchair. And!! A device that can be used to safely load the wheelchair into the aircraft. Those belt loaders are not practical when loading a large and heavy wheelchair. I wish all the wheelchairs had the same process on how to turn the power off on them. We would normally have to remove the battery and disconnect the wheelchair for safety reasons. It would be challenging sometimes. This led to delays in getting the wheelchair boarded or to the customer quickly. Any advice or suggestions? I ask, because I would like to find a way to reduce this from happening to you and others who use wheelchairs when flying. I would love to invent a machine that could load these easier and prevent them from being damaged.
@@ChrisJohnson-hk6es It’s nice to hear someone who cares so much! My wheelchair is very light, most people have no issue lifting it even with one hand with the brakes on. It’s a manual so that’s probably why. The wheels and seat come off, sometimes I take the seat with me on the plane. The back folds down. It can fit into most spaces with puzzle work. I think the best way to help is by asking the user the best way to take the chair apart and put it together and how the brakes work. Most of the issues I’ve had have come from people showing up last minute to board me on the plane and then not bothering to listen to me explain how my chair works. It then ends up with my wheels not being all the way on, causing them to fall off while I’m pushing myself. I’m sure you can imagine how that ends. Honestly, they should make a manual that has the most common types of wheelchairs and how they function on hand to avoid these incidents if there isn’t enough time to hear from the user. I usually don’t have an issue with the wait time, just the manhandling of my chair and my body. My feet getting caught under the boarding chair is not a fun experience. To think they’re actually surprised when I say “Ow!” as if twisting my ankles far enough wouldn’t hurt eventually.
@@GlitterSkies I am so sorry!! I am now thinking about bringing this issue up to some higher ups at the airline I work for. I do think there needs to be more training for ramp workers on how to properly handle wheelchairs. Do you have an email address you can share, or a website I can contact you at? I really want to make it more aware and see if there is more airlines can do to address issues like this. I know you aren't the only one that has stories like this. I think every single airline should have more extensive training on this subject Sorry for the late reply! I am still kind of figuring out youtube. 😂😂
I am looking to seeing the full flyover videos! I have not been to California recently and from this preview it looks like a lot has been done of the ROW segments between structures since your last video.
For sure! There’s a lot more going on than I could cover in an update. There are hundreds of canal crossings and storm culverts built that are pretty boring, but obviously necessary to complete the project
I feel that one of the best ways to both obtain funding for rail projects like CHSR and increase the populace's willingness to support them is to simply reduce the heavy subsidies on other forms of transportation, such as Air. Seeing as how these subsidies are one of the main reasons US passenger rail DIED in the first place. This would force airlines to up their prices, making the train a more appealing competitor, not to mention not having to deal with TSA.
I often ask the detractors when they bring up subsidization of HSR about subsidisation of the ALL-cost Interstate Highway System. It's not expected to generate ANY revenue.
Tremendous work as always! Very satisfying to see the progress on those big viaducts, they really look impressive from above. Glad to see you were blessed with some clearer skies on your trip this year - the footage looks even better with the sun shining. Hope we can see some track being laid before too long!
The effect on how and where from people commute seems to be pretty massive. Going from Bakersfield to LA , Madera to Bay Area, or Merced to Sacramento in a reasonable time could really change California, for better or worse.
The train doesn't go to either LA or SF yet, and most likely never will. The Tehachapi mountains are MOVING! San Andreas moving, and NO it's not like Japan even one tiny bit.
@@tonyburzio4107 There is earthquake technology to counteract that. BART even has a tunnel that goes through an active fault line. Have some hope, we would have dumped the project years ago. California wants the train, but not some of the politicians as usual.
I love these updates from you! My one (small) request is that if you do more of these, when you show the "here's last year and here's this year" flyovers, put the year on the screen. Keep up the great work!
Amazing video! Nothing much else to say except simply comprehensive and informative. I'm always looking forward to your videos and you have yet to disappoint👍
Impeccably executed and presented! Watching from the Netherlands, I hope that a complete California HSR from SF to LA comes to fruition. Will it happen in my lifetime? (I am 65.)
I have been looking for a video like this for months as the top video thumbnail asked if the project would happen or should happen. Thanks for making this video.
Great analysis. I've always said the old traditional way of building more freeways encourages more motorists to purchase vehicles which causes more pollution and congestion which is now a big step backwards. California is the richest state in America and 5th richest economy in the world and should be keeping up with the rest of the world I.e. UK, Europe, China and Japan. This is a great project and yes hope it gets completed.
5th richest in the world, but one of the most income unequal states. Big tech grew out of the Bay Area, and yet many are becoming homeless and poorer, while the rich get richer. Where's the wealth going? Not to regular Californians, for sure. The rich is just fine riding their helicopters and private jets to work. Shitty Caltrain service, congested and broken tollways, and Bart is for the plebs.
@@TohaBgood2 All complete falsehoods and made up bs. You don't even sound like you livehere. Who's the ones buying up luxury apartment units? Definitely not the long-timer locals. The old locals oppose the LUXURY apartment developments, NOT affordable housing, you fucking idiot. It's the ones who live in those glass palaces in the sky who don't want low-income housing because of the fear of crime and lower property values.
Thanks for another update on the project! While there is progress made on the project since your last visit, I am still worry about the amount of work that has not started based on your video. Regardless, still an huge supporter of the project.
Brilliant. I have a thought though. I work for HS2 in the UK and it's being built with connections to the existing railway. This means that HS2 trains can also serve cities that are not on HS2 (not travelling at full speed when they are on the conventional network but still at the maximum speed possible on those lines). Could this be done with California High Speed Rail, so that you could still use the line to travel from LA to SF, at say 250mph on the new line and 125mph on the existing lines?
Yes, the new line can and will be connected to existing rail network in Burbank and San Jose. Due to the constraints of freight rail system, there likely won’t be many trains that use both networks, but for the foreseeable future of course, HSR will use the Caltrain corridor and the Metrolink corridor in LA.
I'm now skeptical that the train will actually travel at 220 mi/h in service. Many of those curves are too sharp for that speed unless they are significantly banked, which might not be allowed by regulations because soups and drinks would be spilled (this is an intercity train, so food and drinks are allowed) if the train needs to operate slower than normal in those sections in an emergency. To get 220 MPH (354 km/h) service, you need curves with huge radii like those on the Tohoku Shinkansen (currently 320 km/h (199 MPH), planned for 360 km/h (224 MPH) service), CRH Beijing-Wuhan-Guangzhou Railway (350 km/h (217 MPH)), CRH Chongqing-Chengdu Railway (currently 350 km/h (217 MPH), 380 km/h (236 MPH) planned), Shanghai Maglev (430 km/h (267 MPH), or Chuo Shinkansen under construction (500 km/h (311 MPH)).
@@AVeryRandomPerson Yeah, but do you think the government is able to follow the law set by themselves here? I don't think so in this case. Keep in mind that the California State Government has previously set into law itself in 1990, without obstruction from the federal government or intergovernmental organizations, that 10% of new vehicles needed to be zero emissions by 2003, with intermediate annual mandated targets. Even before the law was overturned by a federal district court in 2002, the automakers were way (orders of magnitude) off target to meeting the intermediate targets, let alone the final requirement. You simply can't legislate what is societally impossible to accomplish, let alone what is technically impossible to accomplish (such as running very high speeds on moderate curves, unless comfort and durability aren't considered). Ultimately, you can't beat the laws of physics no matter what.
@@00crashtest This wasn't legislated. It was voted in by referendum. Referendums become part of the state constitution, so its a whole other level of judicial weight. What happens when it can't make L.A. to S.F. in 2h40m? If it's ever finished, I think we'll find out because the margin of error to make the required times is extremely thin.
I really hope we get this done as soon as possible! I want to be able to take the train up to San Francisco and it would be great to have this for the entire country also.
My two cents, coming from a country that is operating HSR for several decades: - High speed operation between Bakersfield to Merced is not viable. - The connections to LA and SF are essential. Digging of the tunnels has to start ASAP. - Current construction should be completed without electrification and stations. - Let the San Joaquins run on the tracks. Siemens Charger can do 125mph, dramatically reducing travel time along the valley. - Start HSR with train sets and new stations only after at least SF or LA are connected.
They really should just connect it to the regular tracks on the northern end and build temporary stations to allow San Joaquins to use it until the complete the section from Sacramento-Merced. Then build the section from LA-Bakersfield, LA-Anaheim can come later, the tunnels are more important.
There are over one million people in the Fresno area alone. Hardly unpopulated. And connecting this area to the coastal area is genius -- I never thought of that until watching this video.
Amen! That last bit of commentary says it all. I'm from NYC, and I hope I live long enough to see the California HSR running in full. It is very discouraging to watch other countries rapidly building and expanding their HSR systems, while we debate, quite frankly, over bullshit! JUST DO IT! As for my city, we are one superstorm/hurricane away from watching parts of our aging NYC subway system shut down for repairs, not for one or two years, but for as long as 10 years! We could use a major overhaul here (the electrical systems especially), rather than put bandages over a rotting infrastructure.
Thank you for the visual tour of my home state and the surprising advances of the essential construction projects! It keeps me feeling optimistic! Also please update us on the Las Vegas to Los Angeles Brightline project! Good work, keep it up!
I wrote an op-ed to make the case for completing the LA to SF high speed rail line by 2028 to unveil it at the LA Summer Olympics, just as Japan unveiled the first Shinkansen at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and how such a goal even if out of reach under the best circumstances is still worth getting behind because it can rally wider public support, help incentivize greater investment and accelerate construction to make it closer to reality.
@@TheFourFoot the Streetsblog one they edited quite a bit after I submitted it, but it essentially kept what I was going for. The main point was to address the CA State Legislature, who to my understanding gets final say in how much funding CAHSR receives so they’re the one who ultimately holds the fate of CA high speed rail, and make the case that California needs to finish the LA to SF route and be the one to bring true high speed rail to the US just as the Shinkansen brought it to the world.
The engineers are genius for the way they planned this. By making the first 4 CPs out in the middle of nowhere and the easiest to build, you force the harder parts to be done later (the tunnels) and motivates full funding over time. “Well, there’s no turning back now” The tunnels in and out of San Francisco Bay and in LA + under Burbank will be some of the most expensive. I think we’re looking at a $250B project when it’s all said and done-but still worth it. When the environment benefits, we all benefit. We need to become an energy-efficient species. I mean then what’s the use of Fission research? More electricity for refining more fuels? This is the next logical step for our civilizations.
@@TohaBgood2 , I’m talking project management and engineering. Are you assuming our system is structurally incapable? Is not “just a little longer”. It will be 200 years before you have a rail system to rival China’s. The California HSR started before China even began theirs.
@@TohaBgood2 , California started in 2007. China started in 2008 if I recall. Anyway, I don’t want argue the details, and I will just go with your facts. But I was under the impression that our capitalist, market based system of bond issuance, etc, is better at allocating resources and innovation. The examples you cite are structural issues in USA and China. Ok, I’ll give California another 10 years. But I’m afraid that, well before then, I would have already been riding the HSR from Thailand to China. BTW, I have a tenant in vegas who is from Europe and working on the Victorville - vegas HSR. I asked him when they will build the line. All he says is “we will see”. Apparently, they will use Siemens technology. I’m really excited to see the kind of innovation and outcomes we can produce. I’m being facetious here, because I can’t stay excited for decades!
@@TohaBgood2 , I have been to China many times. Back in the day, I rode their slow trains where passengers have to sit on the floor of carriages. I have ridden their fast trains and their maglev. I have seen the Chinese viaducts assembled like Lego sets while we still build ours, on site, using wood forms. Thailand is also building train HSR faster than California and they started later. You can argue all you want but the facts are that we don’t have a train while they have a whole network. You also seem to argue that an authoritarian system is more efficient. I don’t know…. but I remember my social science classes where the argument was that a democratic system is more efficient, inevitably leads to more innovation, and produces superior outcomes. A political system is only worth what it delivers to the people. Like I said, I’ll be patient and give us another 10 years; then I’ll see where I can enjoy riding the HSR in USA. Watch CGTN and you will see China opening a new HSR line every week. I don’t want to argue politics. But from an engineering perspective, what they’re doing is awesome!
@@TohaBgood2 , so the richest country that is the USA can’t build infrastructure as fast as a third world country like Thailand. I live in San Diego, and I doubt I will see HSR in my lifetime. An engineer doesn’t care about the legal, societal and financial hurdles. He only knows the resources are not there to get the job done. That’s why the Chinese rail network is mind blowing. There is even an app to order food from local restaurants to be delivered while the train is in station. Here in San Diego, I take Amtrak to LA union station at my own risk. The trains are frequently late or canceled, so a trip to LAX to catch a flight is not just risky business, but almost a whole day affair. I guess that’s the price of living in a developed country!
@@TohaBgood2 , from my perspective, as a supporter of public transport, there was massive misallocation of resources. The democratic process didn’t work because people only thought they got what they want - the process was highjacked by the auto industry. I feel sorry for me, but I don’t feel sorry for America because people still think urban sprawl is the best way to go. We are seeing cities around the world developing more sustainably with public transport. My bet is that 30 years from now, we, Americans, will find our cities to be subpar compared to our peers abroad. People here live isolated in the suburbs, and even almost all American cities are not livable without a car. Mental health, depression, and addiction are epidemic in the US because of isolation that the urban architecture exacerbates. Maybe we got what we deserve.
What rolling stock will the line use? I'm so happy for Californians and America for wanting to join the 21st century in modern transportation. Believe me, it is a paradigm change to do 500km in less than 2 hours and without the hassle of alienating yourself at an airport. Soo buy the ticket, do the checking, sit comfortably in your seat, and blast across the state enjoying the views with dream ride quality. Visitors and travelers will appreciate it as well as businesses, money well invested in the future (something that many boomers are unable to see). Win/Win situation, . Greetings from Spain.
They haven't bought any trains yet. Conceptual renderings show the Siemens Velaro, and given Siemens' current dominance of American passenger rail equipment it's not unlikely that they will be chosen in the end. I want CA to pick the Kawasaki efSET but I won't hold my breath
Oh for sure, high speed rail is totally unimaginable for a lot of people, but I’ve been indoctrinated by riding it in other countries lol. Yeah the Valero is a likely contender. Alstom is also going for the contract with the Avelia Liberty, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a CRRC bid. I would love to see Kawasaki will it because they have a factory in my hometown, but I don’t think it’s very likely.
@The Four Foot @Mike Gaskin Velaros look very good and have a very good ride quality, very comfortable and spacious cars, perhaps more American style, a safe bet. The seating configuration I think is 2 + 1 and 2 + 2 depends on the class. As I am a Talgo Fanboy, I hope they also sign up for the contest ^_^!, they have a factory in Milwaukee I think, and also good designs and a lot of experience. It was also exceptional to see European, American and Japanese machines share line, TGV and ETR (bombardier/AnsaldoBreda) are also excellent machines. Perhaps a difficult dream to see it all together, but I am sure that this line will have a lot of traffic and competition between operators. The best thing would be to have several types/brands of convoys, it is a delight to be able to mount on different machines at least from the perspective of the client/user/fan. Greetings and I hope to travel in them if I visit California.
I live in Madera Ca. at the north end of CP1. I appreciate your coverage of this project. I have ridden HSR in Europe and know the benefits this will project. Keep up the good work!
They’re busy stealing money as an excuse to underfund the project instead of looking to the future on how much money it’ll bring to California’s economy and public transportation system
Mistake. 1:13 The gap is north of the San Gabriel Mtns; in the Tehachapi Pass. The San Gabriel Mtns are just under of the word 'Metrolink' in this frame. Aarre Peltomaa
Very nice video, i appreciate these updates as i dont go to the southern part of the valley very often. Most of the time i really strongly dislike californias blue government but this high speed rail is the single issue that i side with them on and im glad theyre actually getting this built.
I’m always thrilled to see your videos pop up! They’re well thought out, and executed incredibly professionally. I will draw issue at the fact that pointing to Chinese HSR development is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. China lacks basic private property rights, and has an authoritarian, single party system to strong arm anything they’d want. While this leads to impressive infrastructure development, their model should hardly be the example people point to.
You are only half right about China. The party's authority is not unlimited. In 2010, they decided to link Pudong Airport, Shanghai South Railway Station and Hongqiao Airport with a Maglev train but had to give up because of popular protests. The Four Foot could have used other examples to show how slow the US has become. On December 8, 1988, the Spanish government decided to build a high speed rail line between Cordoba and Sevilla. It was inaugurated on April 21, 1992. Time is money. CA is paying interest on design work and property acquisition that started around 2010 and actual construction starting in 2015. This investment will not bring any income until 2030. Estimated cost for the easy section between Merced and Bakersfield was $133 million/km in February 21, more than 10 times the cost, adjusted for inflation, of the Sevilla HSR.
@@Neuzahnstein You are right , there is poor private property rights in China. Basically Chinese Government can just take your land and use it for railways that's the thing (but there is compensation for this though and people do get new housing). But ultimately who is gonna use /benefit from the HSR Chinese people only right not Government members???. For example take a look at Xian HSR station . It is crowded as f**k. And Chunyun??? Let's not even talk about the situation during Chunyun. You can't lay your leg in any of the Chinese rail stations and this includes even their HSR stations too.
@@MasterExploder61 I don't think there are going to be a lot of them. You see, taxes are one of the biggest enemies of the rich and when they go up, the rich are first to move out!
The problem is that there isn't sufficient demand for either entire-length or incremental travel on this route. And even if there was, once you get to the stations or the ends, you still have what planners call the "last mile" to get you to your final destination. In Japan, there are several speeds of Bullets trains (Shinkansen) that stop at different stations along the way (so faster "thru" Shinkansen (Nozomi) can pass while the slower "local" Shinkansen (Kodama) are stopped for picking up/letting off passengers at the smaller stations). The distance between each of these stations is critical to the schedule for timing the passing. At each Shinkansen station, you can connect with multiple subways, local rail lines, buses and taxis to get to your final destination. In Tokyo or Nagoya (probably every city), when you rent an apartment or buy a house, the walking time to the nearest subway/train/bus station is rarely over 15-20 minutes and usually less than 10 min. It is often the deciding factor when considering where to live. The American culture still revolves around the car so our cities, highways, infrastructure has been car-centric for most of a hundred years. High speed rail in Fresno or Bakersfield isn't going to change that. Where there is demand for eliminating vehicle congestion is between LA and Las Vegas, where Hwy 15 gets so congested that it often takes two or three extra hours to drive what should be a 5 hour drive. Holiday weekends are the worst, but it happens every weekend now on Friday and Sunday. That would have been a better location to start this kind of project, but that would have required better leadership from politicians.
With uber and lyft, the "last mile" is not really relevant. It would be real interesting to see what data you have that shows insufficient demand for "entire-length/incremental" along this route!
@@chrisstromberg6527 If there was great demand on that route, then the airlines would all be selling-out seats (or adding LA-SAC flights). Or, there would be congestion on Hwy 5 and 99 between cities along the route (CALTRANS would be reporting increases in miles-travelled on those highways and/or Greyhound would be reporting sold-out busses). That's why I explained the LA-Las Vegas congestion issue - it shows where demand is - rather than looking for solutions to problems that don't exist simply for political reasons. The point of my comment was that you can't have the "if we build it they will come" mentality especially when the cost is so astronomical that it'll never be paid back in any of our lifetimes. I doubt any private company would take this on since the ROI isn't there. That's why many people who can afford to are leaving California - the ridiculous spending on "bridges/trains to nowhere" just adds to the crazy taxes. Unless there is a comprehensive door-to-door solution, a train alone isn't going to solve anything. Better solutions than spending billions for little benefit are necessary. To solve the "last mile" issue there is an Amtrak Auto-Train that runs from Virginia to Florida down I-95 (and back). Like the European Channel-Tunnel between London and France, you take your car with you on auto-rack cars and sleep overnight on the passenger train for the 800 mile trip on existing rail lines. But that's the only one in the US - lack of demand or lack of interest? I don't know, but it wouldn't take billions to add those trains to existing overnight rail routes in other states. That would judge demand and convenience. Japan is roughly the size of California and, because of the mountains the population is mostly clustered along the east coast. The extent of the major population centers are a little farther apart than the distance from San Diego to Sacramento, so the Tokaido Shinkansen works for them, but they convinced the population to accept it since it started in the mid-1960s. And rail travel was predominant since the 1950s and the Japanese people have accepted mass-transit for generations. Americans, not so much. The US is so large that only air travel would be practical for coast-to-coast travel, so the airline industry won't go away and airlines will likely undercut any high-speed rail fare just to keep the people in their planes. That's reality. This whole thing is just a solution looking for a problem that doesn't really exist.
finally someone that isn't making a video to be negative, high speed rail once built out and functioning along with the additional benefits that come with it is finished people won't know why they didn't build it sooner
Well over 4 trillion dollars was spent on American interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Just imagine if a quarter of that money had been spent on high-speed rail and metro construction in the United States.
Great video my friend. Plz keep them coming. I work for UPRR out of roseville and pass under the north fresno gateway all the time. I'm really looking forward to the day our uprr train and A CHSR train meet there at the same time. Let's hope the WHOLE project does get finished in our lifetime!!
about 2 years ago I tried to argue my brother that electric locomotives can pull freight and they are a good way to cut down on CO2 emissions, he won by spewing BS in waterways because I was 11 at the time, knew a lot about trains, just not modern ones, and he was 10 years older than I so he could argue much better... I kinda want to restart that argument just to see if I could convince him
Yeah, there are numerous examples of electric freight trains around the world (which I’m sure you know). Even the ACS-64, while being lighter than say an ES44 has like 9,000 horsepower, which is like a lot lol
9,000 horsepower in a locomotive lighter than an ES44 has to make you wonder how much they struggle with wheel slip, because even the big boys could only reach around 6,000 or 7,000
Indeed. I would imagine given their relatively light train weights, that it’s not a huge problem, and I believe the on board computers try to limit wheel slip, but I’m sure it definitely happens lol
@@awildjared1396 In Germany modern four-axle electric locomotives have replaced older six-axle locomotives that also weighed around 50 tonnes more. With traction control and individual motor control they can actually achieve more traction than the older locos, but will struggle in very slippery conditions.
It's obvious that you spent alot of time on this video, it really shows. Fantastic, and probably the best overview of the entire project that I've ever seen.
Thanks a lot man!
Seconded
love your content.
This video is what the official HSR project should be putting out! Kudos for the very thorough coverage (again)
It takes people who actually care, and not think someone else should built it with someone else’s money all while they look and take credit for it
If the people part of the project loved this, the people paying for it loved this, and over all the people wanted it, this would be a different project.
Right now it’s just another job for many.
You really hit a chord with how all our most iconic and beloved infrastructure is from the 30s, and how it is pathetic we haven’t achieved anything similar since.
Wow that’s so true. I’ve intuited this but never had the explicit thought
With the obvious exception of the Interstate Highway System.
What's insane is how the US went from having the best public transportation in the world, especially our rail networks, to one of the worst in the developed world.
Nice job presenting a very difficult project; the California High Speed Rail. Having had a 45 year career as a subdivider/developer in the Antelope Valley (Palmdale - Lancaster area). When the idea of a high speed rail system was first proposed I was excited about the possibilities of what a train like that could do for that area. Today I am more excited than ever seeing that the first segments of the system are coming into a completion phase, and the Bakersfield to Palmdale segment has cleared the EIR. I am confident that the train will be built and within the relative time frame that has been set out. Who knows how things will work out, remember, Los Angeles Hosts the Summer Olympics Games in 2028 and the political powers would love to crow over a new operational High Speed Train system allowing Northern Californians the opportunity to attend the games.
I 100% agree! Also, thanks! This was one of the most difficult videos I’ve made, because the project is so massive, and it’s so reviled by so many people. Striking a relevant tone and deciding what to include was a bit of a challenge lol
AI and autonomous vehicle technology will never let high speed passenger rail reach any level of success in the US. Autonomous vehicles are now at the dawn of a new private vehicle revolution which will change everything.
Palmdale will benefit more if a Vegas to Victorville high speed train gets an extension to Palmdale to capture those wanting SF, central valley to Vegas trip via 2 hsr lines.
@@TohaBgood2 AI is paid for by the sure prize of technical dominance. $100 billion + trains are just drain on the economy with no hope of a pay off.. everyone know that. It was doomed from the start.
AI is here and now no turning back.
@@michaelmccarthy4615 autonomous vehicles will still need roads, which tend to get pretty crowded during normal economic times in the Bay Area and LA County. Then it remains to be seen if the current AI tech is ready for prime time.
Just a note about Japan: The plugs in Japan are physically the same, and quite similar to the US ones. However, the AC transmission frequency is different, with the North/East using 50 Hz and the South/West using 60 Hz. Typically in Japan it's not usually an issue since electronic equipment can use either frequency, but the grid transfer capacity between both regions is somewhat limited.
> 1:57
It's also 100 Volts, not 120V as in US
Biggest physical difference is the lack of a ground on the plug, so plugs are all 2 prong instead of 3. Conversion is super easy between US and Japanese plugs, you can easily find 3 to 2 prong converters and about the only common thing people use that causes issues are hair dryers.
@@neilworms2 In Germany, don't know about rest of continent or GB, the plugs are not polarized. It kinda scares hell outa me. It's 220 per leg, you probably know. Hmmm, I don;t know what the potential is between hot legs, 440? =:-O
@@inyobill The potential is 240v still. Unlike the US, Europe doesn't use a center tap to create a neutral. The US is only 120v because they split the 240v into 2 120v phases. In fact, there are breakers that you can get that use the 2 hots rather than a hot and the neutral, giving you a 240v circuit.
Honestly if we had High speed rail, I'd never fly again. Absolutely detest it.
Seeing this project come along is inspiring and makes me optimistic. So many people are pessimists about this project but I'm hopeful since so much has been done so far.
@@aabb55777 it’s better for the planet
@@aabb55777 Single seat journey without the stress of going to the airport 2 hours ahead and making transfers from the airport to the city center.
@@TohaBgood2 trains are good people movers; I rode with Thalys from Paris to Dusseldorf and it was a a great experience, and I didn't have to worry about getting there 4 hours early.
And i would never drive. Driving is boring and stressful as hell. I hope this project finishes in the next decade
For the people who are afraid to fly (unless they _really_ have to, like on a trip across the oceans), this is a much better alternative, especially if you don't have to travel more than halfway across the country. So long as they have Wi-Fi, I could ride a train for at least 3 hours at 125mph (which is _the_ benchmark for a bullet train) or faster.
I'm glad you're watermarking your videos! your drone coverage of this is spectacular and there's no doubt that news orgs will try to rip it for their use
Haha, perhaps. The authority has plenty of well done videos as well, my angle is showing the whole project. Most people won’t know how difficult it was to film the southern five miles of CP 2-3, but I’m sure someone will appreciate seeing it lol
And others
Your concluding words were amazing and well put! Fantastic reporting!
Thanks a lot!
Funny the whole thing somehow. Your first track is under construction and plagued by many disputes. And we in Germany are overhauling our high-speed rail for the first time since construction. But it's nice to see how things are going with you as well. At home here in Berlin, the expansion of the Dresden Railway is also moving forward. Here, the new long-distance railway tracks including bridges on Berlin territory have to be rebuilt. It should be ready in 2025. Then the trains from Hamburg to Dresden, Prague and Budapest will take the direct route from Berlin and will no longer have to take detours. The fact that there are still no long-distance railway tracks between Berlin-Südkreuz and Blankenfelde is still due to the Cold War and political disputes after the fall of the Wall. I'm filming the project in Berlin. Greetings from Berlin/ Germany. Sven
Interesting! I’ll check out your videos!
German rail lines are the ones blocking everyone else in europe, It's at the geographic center, but there is no through lines. I can't go from northen europe to france or spain easily by train, I have to change trains a lot, wait, a lot and pay way too much money. German network is only connected inside the country, it doesn't link very well with the neighboring countries. I hope european railways will become integrated, I really hate traveling by plane.
@@ouicertes9764 if you think that's bad try the trains in the UK. Absolute joke.
"German rail lines are the ones blocking everyone else in europe,"
They seem to do everything to not to do much with regards to rail connections with neighbours. Strong car lobby, eh Sven?
@@z00h Jep, strong car lobby. And this has been going on since the 60s. When I look at the drama about the Rhine Valley Railway Karlsruhe-Basel, I could only puke. Completion on the German side in 2041. The access route to the Brenner Base Tunnel... completion open. Railway line Lübeck-Island Fehmarn... very big ? And the Berlin-Frankfurt/Oder line has been under construction since 1990 to upgrade it at 160 km/h...But it's no wonder with these smears as Minister of Transport
I still remember voting for this in college. So crazy it hasn't been completed yet, living in Japan at the moment makes me realize how important having a strong rail network is.
It's not crazy. It's situation normal for California projects - over budget and behind schedule If there was popular demand for rail service, Amtrak would have budget surpluses.
Completely agree that once the Bakersfield-Fresno-Merced link is operational, there will be renewed support. Thanks for the clarion call on CaHSR.
A failed not so high speed train to no where is not going to build support. The two large metros should be served with the shortest cheapest route near I-5 with four stops In total to preserve true high speeds. Two stops in the Bay Area, two stops in the LA area. The central valley presently have Amtrak services, why build a very expensive high speed rail through urban Central Valley cities? Furthermore, high speed rail commands first class fares, not coach fares. California would have been better off allowing SNCF to build their new high speed train adjacent to I-5 a decade ago, that high speed train would be running today... But noooooo, politicians and politics robbed California...
Fore my that's for the lack of it being not finished and this bull about bug threat thank the last a hole in the wite house if people wront scared yes it would be finished so think on that
It's going to do the opposite! Operating costs will be thru the roof and each train will either have insane ticket costs that no one will pay or will burn cash. No one is travelling between those cities can afford an express train. They will drive their pickup truck
@@skiparkcityut Think CA would be smart enough to make the tickets cheap through different means. Only way operating costs would be thru the roof is if the authority decides to be more "high tech" in everything or by approving the cheapest contract for rolling stock as they did with bridge construction (you probably know how that went).
@@ronclark9724 Largely agreed with the stops, honestly way too many stops in the central valley. The worst part is sharing a corridor with commuter trains as we literally could build an independent high speed corridor in BOTH LA and SF for the current cost. Sadly politics is politics, the high speed line would have been completed a decade sooner if it weren't for that (and be way more cheap).
As someone that has lived in California for over 40 years, I really hope this project completes. I would love to be able to take this to see my parents, and would visit them way more often than I currently do.
And in your dream trip to your parents' house, how much of the tab are you expecting the public to pick up?
You are turning me into to a train and infrastructure nerd and I love it. When I have to demonstrate why we need to finish this project I point my browser to your youtube channel. Thanks and I look forward to more videos.
As a structural engineer on the east coast it sure is interesting to see construction on such a large scale where roads can just be moved and there's room for massive structures. That dirt pile at the north end of the station is being used for settlement of the soil. Abutments are heavy and the soil would start sinking little by little. A massive dirt pile at that location puts the weight on the soil before the abutment is built so that by the time the rails are placed and trains are running, the soil already had a chance to settle.
A long time ago the US love to ride the train. Now, the high-speed rail system is underway, and I believe the Shinkansen high-speed rail will be a POWER of transportation in the US. Welcome aboard.
One point for rail travel in general that I think is under represented is that pretty much no matter the circumstance, you can do work, read, or whatever for your entire time in the vehicle as well as that you get decent legroom and flexibility. Planes are cramped, noisy, and a ton of hassle, driving is an exercise in stress management and paying constant attention. I personally never have any reason to go to LA, but system-wide improvements, including cities improving their bike, bus, and light rail infrastructure so that connection to HSR, can only do to make rail travel easier and more convenient to all of us. I'd take the Capitol Corridor to SF all the time if it were easier to get to!
The reason that your airplane seat has no legroom is to keep the cost of travel down and operate a profitable service.
There are plenty of improvements planned along the Capitol Corridor to improve speed and reduce the overall travel time.
I am rooting for California to complete this! This will also help with the housing crisis, and it will be an economical and popularity boost for cities along the HSR lines. And maybe - hopefully - this will inspire other states to follow suit with similar projects.
Unfortunately, I strongly believe automakers and airlines are going to torpedo this project.
@@denelson83 It's a bit too late for that.
@@wta1518 Elon Musk already tried to torpedo it with his "hyperloop" gambit.
@@denelson83 And failed.
@@wta1518 Well, that will not stop Big Auto and Big Airlines from continuing to try.
I have to say that I agree it's time for California to finish this project. This is a very smart investment to the country. This will revolutionize the country in a lot of ways economically. It will reduce congestion on Freeways, enable to mobilize a new work force from a more cost saving region. Being able to connect with Brightline going into Las Vegas will make both States an economic boom tourist, and work force commuting. Doing this one thing would create thousands of jobs. Connecting Larger cities to smaller cities in rural areas saving time and money. Thousands of new businesses will open as a result of this project. Holiday travel will become easier.
This is an amazing. I didn't realize so much of it has been done!!!
I have to laugh at you for your pronunciation of the Tule River though
That pile of dirt that disappeared to be replaced with a piling may have been there as a weight to compress the land that the piling would go in to. A common sight in Vancouver is a pyramid of dirt with the top 1/3 or so covered in tarps held down by used tires; after two years or so it gets removed and they start building the foundation of a high-rise.
Japanese high speed railway also went overbudget, several folks were arrested for corruption but now it is all milk and honey because it works
Thanks for update. I drive SR99 on a regular basis past several of these projects but don’t have the overhead view. I wish California HSR Authority provided as complete overviews as your annual updates. Thanks again.
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it!
Thanks for coming back to CA to do an update on the CAHSR. Even the rail authority doesn't even have a good educational video like this to show to everyone.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for making these videos! This must have taken so much time and effort!
Great seeing all the work those folks have done so far. Excited to ride this all the time once completed!
The passion you have in this video is why I love your channel. You pretty much summed up everything I argue about WHY high speed rail is needed in this country. Thanks again for this video. I have been waiting for it all year.
Thank you! I can’t wait to drop the flyovers, even though they will be incredibly long lol
@@TheFourFoot I don't care how long they are. I think a lot of politicians in this country need to follow your channel...or at least their constituents.
I’m sure a couple people will see the flyover videos, it’d be interesting to know who though lol
@@TheFourFoot By the way, what station was that through which TGV was zipping?
Gwangmyeong, I’m the south of the Seoul metro area. That train was a KTX 1, which of course was a TGV. Several of the sets were built in France. I have a video of footage from the station from 2016. It’s one of my earliest lol
Anyone who's driven 5 between the Bay Area and LA knows how congested it's become. The number of traffic clogging trucks alone has made it a difficult and frustrating drive. Flying is no longer easy as the flight time may be short, but everything involved with air travel takes much much more time than the actual flight itself. Rail is the way to go, with it speed, flexibly and minimal environmental impact, it's been long overdue. The presentation was well done.
Thanks a lot!
Anything that takes less than two hours to get out of Los Angeles I consider a miracle.
it won't be long and cars will drive themselves. Convoys of cars going 150 mph will make rail even more obsolete than it is now. Cars can go everywhere, trains are limited by the EXPENSIVE tracks.
@@TheBandit7613 Don't hold your breath on car convoys. Problem is we need solutions NOW and trains are a perfect solution.
@@TheBandit7613 A train is A BUNCH OF CARS CONNECTED TOGETHER LMFAOOOO.
Auto cars need expensive freeways because each automobile is a huge object that is used by an average 1 1/3 people
Late, but great video! You covered a lot while keeping it relatively short
I'm a highway engineer, and I can confirm that adding lanes do not solve traffic congestion, and at times, making it worse. Seems count-intuitive, but it's a fact of life. I won't go into why, but Google has plenty of explanations if you want to know more.
Great video and thank you for including SI/metric units as well. Hopefully this project progresses quickly so Bakersfield to Merced HSR segment is complete.
The most difficult part will be the routing to the SF Bay Area. The preferred routing to Gilroy is probably the best since it avoids built-up areas but it is also quite difficult since it needs to cross the Diablo Range near Pacheco Pass.
Looking forward to future updates, it's interesting you're covering this living all the way over in Nebraska - thanks for the dedication!
Wow, that’s what I call a comprehensive report.
Another informative and well researched video. Again, as I've said before, your videos more clearly show just how complex this huge public infrastructure project is and why we need it not only for CA, but the nation too. Well done.
Complex graft you mean!
@@tonyburzio4107 You'r reading comprehension is lacking.
Thanks for the video. I just came back from Europe. I took the high speed rail Eurostar from Paris to London. It was so much easier, enjoyable experience. You put your luggage on a rack or overhead capartment. The seats were comfortable. The bathrooms on board were more spacious and clean than the ones on the plane. But best of all, going through security and customs is much more faster and easier at the train station than at the airport. When I flew from Frankfurt Germany to LAX I had to go through 3 customs checks! Believe me, while I was riding the Eurostar high speed rail, the thought that came to my mind was, why is this not in America? It was an awesome experience. A flight from Paris to London os an hour and 15 minutes, whereas a train ride is 2 hours and 30 minutes. Still, they drop you off in the middle of the city where airports are usually towards the end of a city.
As for CA, can you make a video on the efforts to bring high speed rail from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Believe me, my only concern is will I able to get a ticket when a line between those 2 cities is established.
P.S. the only negative about traveling the Eurostar star was the price. I admit I got the ticket at the last minute. But, a round trip ticket cost me 450 Euros, which translate to almost 500 US dollars. The plane would have been a little cheaper. If this high speed rail is to work ot needs to be not only a better experience from start to finish, and I have not doubt it would be, but it needs to be a little cheaper than the plane ticket. I went on and purchased the tickets to see what it was like to ride a high speed rail.
What's clear from your video is that the High Speed Rail project is clearly a "road improvement project." Seeing the number of highways and roadways being reconstructed for cars, and not HSR, show why the costs of the project have continued to escalate. I'd be curious to see a breakdown of how much of the HSR budget is actually going into roads and utilities.
While it's great that this capacity is being built, seeing the flyover of the Bakersfield station is one of the major reasons I'm concerned about the effectiveness of this project - it looks to be in a completely industrial area / likely transit desert. While I'm sure some local transit will be rerouted, it looks like there's almost nothing around the area, showing that those renderings of the "reinvigorated area" likely a pipe dream if one still needs a car to get around the area. Are there plans for a mixed-use development around the HSR station?
Yeah, you’re not wrong. Particularly if this project doesn’t get completed and trains actually start running, it will be all about roads. Yes there are plans to develop the areas around stations, particularly in Fresno, where much of the land around the station has been cleared. Bakersfield however has been much less receptive to HSR, which is why the station will be built on the edge of town and not the center. Bakersfield however didn’t have any problem sacrificing neighborhoods for the new freeway that’s being built, though…
What you describe happens with all HSR projects around the world in populated areas with existing public infrastructure like roads, bridges, and highways. I'm surprised you wouldn't have thought that would be the case. And more of these kinds of mitigations will take place the closer the project construction gets to major cities. In fact, studies are happening now in L.A. about what current crossings will have to be completely grade separated that will then result in rerouting existing roads, etc.
Many of the early train stations in the 20s were not necessarily built in areas with high density of businesses or residences. They tended to be at the edge of what then was perceived to be the cities boundaries. I'm sure you've seen many videos where you see the train station/stop in kind of an isolated location. Forward decades later and the train station is now surrounded by a whole bunch of stuff. That will happen in Bakersfield too.
@@TheFourFoot And of course Bakersfield is a bastion of conservatism in CA.
@@TheFourFoot Noting the new developments around BART stations I feel like we can successfully develop the area after high speed rail has been completed. California needs more housing so this would definitely help.
The Bakersfield HSR station will be a ten minute walk to downtown and many restaurants, a five minute Uber ride to hotels, museums, and other entertainment options. It's also right next to a major highway. It's not exactly a "transit desert." I happen to pass by the area on my daily commute and know the area well.
Thanks for the shout out, buddy!
I Love this Project!!!!! and I have so many hopes in it!!! thanks For recovering it!!!
Thank you!
I just want these trains to be finished so that airlines can stop destroying my wheelchair and delaying my departure. Imagine being forced to wait an extra 30 minutes to an hour for someone to unload your wheelchair and cramp you into a small isle chair, only to find out they broke something. Never had that kind of experience when taking the Sunrail in Orlando.
Yeah, I’m sure that’s a pretty awful experience!
I'm so sorry to hear this. How heavy is your wheelchair? I worked for the airlines, and those heavy wheelchairs all have to be handled by hand. I remember when we were unloading a very heavy electric wheelchair once, and the worker in the baggage bin didn't set the brakes before putting it on the belt loader. That wheelchair came ripping down the belt and almost hit me. Had it hit me, I would have definitely had broken bones or possibly killed. I was horrified after seeing it land on its side on the ramp. I know this is someone's legs, and I knew it was damaged.
Then there were other situations where we would get it offloaded and had to take it to the other side of the airport to get it up the elevator, then get it all the way to the gate so we could give it to the passenger. This sometimes took 20 minutes or more.
A few things I would like to see happen is better instructions on how to handle the wheelchair. And!! A device that can be used to safely load the wheelchair into the aircraft. Those belt loaders are not practical when loading a large and heavy wheelchair. I wish all the wheelchairs had the same process on how to turn the power off on them. We would normally have to remove the battery and disconnect the wheelchair for safety reasons. It would be challenging sometimes. This led to delays in getting the wheelchair boarded or to the customer quickly.
Any advice or suggestions? I ask, because I would like to find a way to reduce this from happening to you and others who use wheelchairs when flying. I would love to invent a machine that could load these easier and prevent them from being damaged.
@@ChrisJohnson-hk6es It’s nice to hear someone who cares so much! My wheelchair is very light, most people have no issue lifting it even with one hand with the brakes on. It’s a manual so that’s probably why. The wheels and seat come off, sometimes I take the seat with me on the plane. The back folds down. It can fit into most spaces with puzzle work.
I think the best way to help is by asking the user the best way to take the chair apart and put it together and how the brakes work. Most of the issues I’ve had have come from people showing up last minute to board me on the plane and then not bothering to listen to me explain how my chair works. It then ends up with my wheels not being all the way on, causing them to fall off while I’m pushing myself. I’m sure you can imagine how that ends.
Honestly, they should make a manual that has the most common types of wheelchairs and how they function on hand to avoid these incidents if there isn’t enough time to hear from the user.
I usually don’t have an issue with the wait time, just the manhandling of my chair and my body. My feet getting caught under the boarding chair is not a fun experience. To think they’re actually surprised when I say “Ow!” as if twisting my ankles far enough wouldn’t hurt eventually.
Oh, you don't like the airport baggage demolition dept. handling your essential equipment? Picky, picky, picky.
@@GlitterSkies I am so sorry!! I am now thinking about bringing this issue up to some higher ups at the airline I work for. I do think there needs to be more training for ramp workers on how to properly handle wheelchairs. Do you have an email address you can share, or a website I can contact you at? I really want to make it more aware and see if there is more airlines can do to address issues like this. I know you aren't the only one that has stories like this. I think every single airline should have more extensive training on this subject
Sorry for the late reply! I am still kind of figuring out youtube. 😂😂
I am looking to seeing the full flyover videos! I have not been to California recently and from this preview it looks like a lot has been done of the ROW segments between structures since your last video.
For sure! There’s a lot more going on than I could cover in an update. There are hundreds of canal crossings and storm culverts built that are pretty boring, but obviously necessary to complete the project
I think it's time for an updated video of the 119 miles of HSR!
I feel that one of the best ways to both obtain funding for rail projects like CHSR and increase the populace's willingness to support them is to simply reduce the heavy subsidies on other forms of transportation, such as Air. Seeing as how these subsidies are one of the main reasons US passenger rail DIED in the first place. This would force airlines to up their prices, making the train a more appealing competitor, not to mention not having to deal with TSA.
THIS. So frustrating and people can’t comprehend it somehow
I often ask the detractors when they bring up subsidization of HSR about subsidisation of the ALL-cost Interstate Highway System. It's not expected to generate ANY revenue.
@@inyobill that is another very good point.
Awesome video and update. Appreciate the time and effort this took!
Tremendous work as always! Very satisfying to see the progress on those big viaducts, they really look impressive from above. Glad to see you were blessed with some clearer skies on your trip this year - the footage looks even better with the sun shining. Hope we can see some track being laid before too long!
High-speed rail really does need to happen! It's overdue.
Everyone went bonkers when CHSRS ballooned in cost, as if the Shinkansen didnt go through that too.
Absolutely awesome info vid!! Loving the comparison and spreadsheet
Thanks! Im glad you liked it!
You threaded this massive topic nicely and created a really great video for this project. You put monumental energy in this and it shows, great job!!
Thanks a lot!
loved the video. It restored my faith in this project.
cant wait for high speed rail, the waits been agonizing
The effect on how and where from people commute seems to be pretty massive. Going from Bakersfield to LA , Madera to Bay Area, or Merced to Sacramento in a reasonable time could really change California, for better or worse.
The train doesn't go to either LA or SF yet, and most likely never will. The Tehachapi mountains are MOVING! San Andreas moving, and NO it's not like Japan even one tiny bit.
@@tonyburzio4107 There is earthquake technology to counteract that. BART even has a tunnel that goes through an active fault line. Have some hope, we would have dumped the project years ago. California wants the train, but not some of the politicians as usual.
@@tonyburzio4107 are you dense?
I love these updates from you! My one (small) request is that if you do more of these, when you show the "here's last year and here's this year" flyovers, put the year on the screen. Keep up the great work!
Great video!
Thanks!
Amazing video! Nothing much else to say except simply comprehensive and informative.
I'm always looking forward to your videos and you have yet to disappoint👍
Thank you so much!
Before going to Japan, I would never believe High Speed Rail would be a game changer---now, I can't wait! Great detailed video
Impeccably executed and presented! Watching from the Netherlands, I hope that a complete California HSR from SF to LA comes to fruition. Will it happen in my lifetime? (I am 65.)
Hope so!
Hopefully, the first section should be open in just 7 years.
It's a great project - As long as it's finished.
I have been looking for a video like this for months as the top video thumbnail asked if the project would happen or should happen. Thanks for making this video.
Great analysis.
I've always said the old traditional way of building more freeways encourages more motorists to purchase vehicles which causes more pollution and congestion which is now a big step backwards.
California is the richest state in America and 5th richest economy in the world and should be keeping up with the rest of the world I.e. UK, Europe, China and Japan.
This is a great project and yes hope it gets completed.
You’re absolutely right! Thanks!
You forgot they are broke, and businesses are leaving the state due to excess taxes.
5th richest in the world, but one of the most income unequal states. Big tech grew out of the Bay Area, and yet many are becoming homeless and poorer, while the rich get richer. Where's the wealth going? Not to regular Californians, for sure. The rich is just fine riding their helicopters and private jets to work. Shitty Caltrain service, congested and broken tollways, and Bart is for the plebs.
Elloquently said
@@TohaBgood2 All complete falsehoods and made up bs. You don't even sound like you livehere. Who's the ones buying up luxury apartment units? Definitely not the long-timer locals. The old locals oppose the LUXURY apartment developments, NOT affordable housing, you fucking idiot. It's the ones who live in those glass palaces in the sky who don't want low-income housing because of the fear of crime and lower property values.
Thanks for another update on the project! While there is progress made on the project since your last visit, I am still worry about the amount of work that has not started based on your video. Regardless, still an huge supporter of the project.
Brilliant. I have a thought though. I work for HS2 in the UK and it's being built with connections to the existing railway. This means that HS2 trains can also serve cities that are not on HS2 (not travelling at full speed when they are on the conventional network but still at the maximum speed possible on those lines). Could this be done with California High Speed Rail, so that you could still use the line to travel from LA to SF, at say 250mph on the new line and 125mph on the existing lines?
Yes, the new line can and will be connected to existing rail network in Burbank and San Jose. Due to the constraints of freight rail system, there likely won’t be many trains that use both networks, but for the foreseeable future of course, HSR will use the Caltrain corridor and the Metrolink corridor in LA.
@@TheFourFoot you need legislation to give intercity passenger trains priority over freight
Yes, we do lol. More specifically we need the legislation we already have to be enforced…
I'm now skeptical that the train will actually travel at 220 mi/h in service. Many of those curves are too sharp for that speed unless they are significantly banked, which might not be allowed by regulations because soups and drinks would be spilled (this is an intercity train, so food and drinks are allowed) if the train needs to operate slower than normal in those sections in an emergency. To get 220 MPH (354 km/h) service, you need curves with huge radii like those on the Tohoku Shinkansen (currently 320 km/h (199 MPH), planned for 360 km/h (224 MPH) service), CRH Beijing-Wuhan-Guangzhou Railway (350 km/h (217 MPH)), CRH Chongqing-Chengdu Railway (currently 350 km/h (217 MPH), 380 km/h (236 MPH) planned), Shanghai Maglev (430 km/h (267 MPH), or Chuo Shinkansen under construction (500 km/h (311 MPH)).
It has to go between LA and Sacramento in 2:30 by law
@@AVeryRandomPerson Yeah, but do you think the government is able to follow the law set by themselves here? I don't think so in this case. Keep in mind that the California State Government has previously set into law itself in 1990, without obstruction from the federal government or intergovernmental organizations, that 10% of new vehicles needed to be zero emissions by 2003, with intermediate annual mandated targets. Even before the law was overturned by a federal district court in 2002, the automakers were way (orders of magnitude) off target to meeting the intermediate targets, let alone the final requirement. You simply can't legislate what is societally impossible to accomplish, let alone what is technically impossible to accomplish (such as running very high speeds on moderate curves, unless comfort and durability aren't considered). Ultimately, you can't beat the laws of physics no matter what.
@@00crashtest This wasn't legislated. It was voted in by referendum. Referendums become part of the state constitution, so its a whole other level of judicial weight. What happens when it can't make L.A. to S.F. in 2h40m? If it's ever finished, I think we'll find out because the margin of error to make the required times is extremely thin.
I really hope we get this done as soon as possible! I want to be able to take the train up to San Francisco and it would be great to have this for the entire country also.
This was so much better than the actual summer update thank you
My two cents, coming from a country that is operating HSR for several decades:
- High speed operation between Bakersfield to Merced is not viable.
- The connections to LA and SF are essential. Digging of the tunnels has to start ASAP.
- Current construction should be completed without electrification and stations.
- Let the San Joaquins run on the tracks. Siemens Charger can do 125mph, dramatically reducing travel time along the valley.
- Start HSR with train sets and new stations only after at least SF or LA are connected.
They really should just connect it to the regular tracks on the northern end and build temporary stations to allow San Joaquins to use it until the complete the section from Sacramento-Merced. Then build the section from LA-Bakersfield, LA-Anaheim can come later, the tunnels are more important.
There are over one million people in the Fresno area alone. Hardly unpopulated. And connecting this area to the coastal area is genius -- I never thought of that until watching this video.
Outstanding video. Your critiques of automobile and air centric transit are really on point.
Amen! That last bit of commentary says it all.
I'm from NYC, and I hope I live long enough to see the California HSR running in full. It is very discouraging to watch other countries rapidly building and expanding their HSR systems, while we debate, quite frankly, over bullshit! JUST DO IT!
As for my city, we are one superstorm/hurricane away from watching parts of our aging NYC subway system shut down for repairs, not for one or two years, but for as long as 10 years! We could use a major overhaul here (the electrical systems especially), rather than put bandages over a rotting infrastructure.
Thank you for the visual tour of my home state and the surprising advances of the essential construction projects! It keeps me feeling optimistic! Also please update us on the Las Vegas to Los Angeles Brightline project! Good work, keep it up!
I wrote an op-ed to make the case for completing the LA to SF high speed rail line by 2028 to unveil it at the LA Summer Olympics, just as Japan unveiled the first Shinkansen at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and how such a goal even if out of reach under the best circumstances is still worth getting behind because it can rally wider public support, help incentivize greater investment and accelerate construction to make it closer to reality.
That’s awesome. I fully support that idea lol
I just read it. That’s a fantastic idea that I hope catches on!
@@TheFourFoot the Streetsblog one they edited quite a bit after I submitted it, but it essentially kept what I was going for. The main point was to address the CA State Legislature, who to my understanding gets final say in how much funding CAHSR receives so they’re the one who ultimately holds the fate of CA high speed rail, and make the case that California needs to finish the LA to SF route and be the one to bring true high speed rail to the US just as the Shinkansen brought it to the world.
The engineers are genius for the way they planned this.
By making the first 4 CPs out in the middle of nowhere and the easiest to build, you force the harder parts to be done later (the tunnels) and motivates full funding over time.
“Well, there’s no turning back now”
The tunnels in and out of San Francisco Bay and in LA + under Burbank will be some of the most expensive.
I think we’re looking at a $250B project when it’s all said and done-but still worth it. When the environment benefits, we all benefit.
We need to become an energy-efficient species.
I mean then what’s the use of Fission research? More electricity for refining more fuels?
This is the next logical step for our civilizations.
Pretty massive engineering project. To think that China built their whole network within 10 years is just mind blowing.
@@TohaBgood2 , I’m talking project management and engineering. Are you assuming our system is structurally incapable?
Is not “just a little longer”. It will be 200 years before you have a rail system to rival China’s. The California HSR started before China even began theirs.
@@TohaBgood2 , California started in 2007. China started in 2008 if I recall.
Anyway, I don’t want argue the details, and I will just go with your facts.
But I was under the impression that our capitalist, market based system of bond issuance, etc, is better at allocating resources and innovation.
The examples you cite are structural issues in USA and China.
Ok, I’ll give California another 10 years. But I’m afraid that, well before then, I would have already been riding the HSR from Thailand to China.
BTW, I have a tenant in vegas who is from Europe and working on the Victorville - vegas HSR. I asked him when they will build the line. All he says is “we will see”. Apparently, they will use Siemens technology.
I’m really excited to see the kind of innovation and outcomes we can produce. I’m being facetious here, because I can’t stay excited for decades!
@@TohaBgood2 , I have been to China many times. Back in the day, I rode their slow trains where passengers have to sit on the floor of carriages. I have ridden their fast trains and their maglev.
I have seen the Chinese viaducts assembled like Lego sets while we still build ours, on site, using wood forms.
Thailand is also building train HSR faster than California and they started later.
You can argue all you want but the facts are that we don’t have a train while they have a whole network.
You also seem to argue that an authoritarian system is more efficient. I don’t know…. but I remember my social science classes where the argument was that a democratic system is more efficient, inevitably leads to more innovation, and produces superior outcomes. A political system is only worth what it delivers to the people.
Like I said, I’ll be patient and give us another 10 years; then I’ll see where I can enjoy riding the HSR in USA.
Watch CGTN and you will see China opening a new HSR line every week. I don’t want to argue politics. But from an engineering perspective, what they’re doing is awesome!
@@TohaBgood2 , so the richest country that is the USA can’t build infrastructure as fast as a third world country like Thailand.
I live in San Diego, and I doubt I will see HSR in my lifetime. An engineer doesn’t care about the legal, societal and financial hurdles. He only knows the resources are not there to get the job done. That’s why the Chinese rail network is mind blowing. There is even an app to order food from local restaurants to be delivered while the train is in station.
Here in San Diego, I take Amtrak to LA union station at my own risk. The trains are frequently late or canceled, so a trip to LAX to catch a flight is not just risky business, but almost a whole day affair. I guess that’s the price of living in a developed country!
@@TohaBgood2 , from my perspective, as a supporter of public transport, there was massive misallocation of resources. The democratic process didn’t work because people only thought they got what they want - the process was highjacked by the auto industry. I feel sorry for me, but I don’t feel sorry for America because people still think urban sprawl is the best way to go. We are seeing cities around the world developing more sustainably with public transport. My bet is that 30 years from now, we, Americans, will find our cities to be subpar compared to our peers abroad. People here live isolated in the suburbs, and even almost all American cities are not livable without a car. Mental health, depression, and addiction are epidemic in the US because of isolation that the urban architecture exacerbates. Maybe we got what we deserve.
Did not know that ACE was expanding down to Merced. Great video!
What rolling stock will the line use?
I'm so happy for Californians and America for wanting to join the 21st century in modern transportation. Believe me, it is a paradigm change to do 500km in less than 2 hours and without the hassle of alienating yourself at an airport. Soo buy the ticket, do the checking, sit comfortably in your seat, and blast across the state enjoying the views with dream ride quality. Visitors and travelers will appreciate it as well as businesses, money well invested in the future (something that many boomers are unable to see). Win/Win situation, .
Greetings from Spain.
They haven't bought any trains yet. Conceptual renderings show the Siemens Velaro, and given Siemens' current dominance of American passenger rail equipment it's not unlikely that they will be chosen in the end. I want CA to pick the Kawasaki efSET but I won't hold my breath
Oh for sure, high speed rail is totally unimaginable for a lot of people, but I’ve been indoctrinated by riding it in other countries lol. Yeah the Valero is a likely contender. Alstom is also going for the contract with the Avelia Liberty, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a CRRC bid. I would love to see Kawasaki will it because they have a factory in my hometown, but I don’t think it’s very likely.
@The Four Foot @Mike Gaskin
Velaros look very good and have a very good ride quality, very comfortable and spacious cars, perhaps more American style, a safe bet. The seating configuration I think is 2 + 1 and 2 + 2 depends on the class. As I am a Talgo Fanboy, I hope they also sign up for the contest ^_^!, they have a factory in Milwaukee I think, and also good designs and a lot of experience. It was also exceptional to see European, American and Japanese machines share line, TGV and ETR (bombardier/AnsaldoBreda) are also excellent machines. Perhaps a difficult dream to see it all together, but I am sure that this line will have a lot of traffic and competition between operators.
The best thing would be to have several types/brands of convoys, it is a delight to be able to mount on different machines at least from the perspective of the client/user/fan. Greetings and I hope to travel in them if I visit California.
What about any work done or planned btwn Bakersfield and thru tehachapi, thru Rosamond and connect with the AV rails?
Yay!
wow this is an engineering marvel! thank you for showing the crazy details. I had no idea
I live in Madera Ca. at the north end of CP1. I appreciate your coverage of this project.
I have ridden HSR in Europe and know the benefits
this will project. Keep up the good work!
Nice! Thanks a lot!
This video is just phenomenal, loved it
Yay, Finally
It’s been a while lol
Is there going to be an update to this video in 2023?
"It's time to finish California High Speed Rail". I personally agree. But the Californian Governor doesn't agree...
They’re busy stealing money as an excuse to underfund the project instead of looking to the future on how much money it’ll bring to California’s economy and public transportation system
Blame CEQA ( California's Environmental Quality Act of 1970 )
@@Sweetteawillie We still talking about CHSR or HS2?
@@1ZAXx Some people like to blame the governor for everything. Republicans of course.
Mistake. 1:13 The gap is north of the San Gabriel Mtns; in the Tehachapi Pass. The San Gabriel Mtns are just under of the word 'Metrolink' in this frame. Aarre Peltomaa
I love California High Speed Rail.
This is probably the best video you made yet. I really enjoyed it.
Also looking forward to the more detailed drone flyover videos.
Thanks a lot!
HSR should be built everywhere in the USA. People need to rely less on cars, and more on faster and more efficient public transport.
Can you do a video about the Cross Valley Corridor?
Very nice video, i appreciate these updates as i dont go to the southern part of the valley very often. Most of the time i really strongly dislike californias blue government but this high speed rail is the single issue that i side with them on and im glad theyre actually getting this built.
Thanks a lot!
Brightline in Florida and California HSR are probably our last, best hope for High Speed Rail in this country. I'm crossing my fingers.
Texas is also considering HSR from Dallas to Houston.
Another great video! Very thorough and comprehensive!
Thanks a lot!
I’m always thrilled to see your videos pop up! They’re well thought out, and executed incredibly professionally. I will draw issue at the fact that pointing to Chinese HSR development is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. China lacks basic private property rights, and has an authoritarian, single party system to strong arm anything they’d want. While this leads to impressive infrastructure development, their model should hardly be the example people point to.
You are only half right about China. The party's authority is not unlimited. In 2010, they decided to link Pudong Airport, Shanghai South Railway Station and Hongqiao Airport with a Maglev train but had to give up because of popular protests. The Four Foot could have used other examples to show how slow the US has become.
On December 8, 1988, the Spanish government decided to build a high speed rail line between Cordoba and Sevilla. It was inaugurated on April 21, 1992. Time is money. CA is paying interest on design work and property acquisition that started around 2010 and actual construction starting in 2015. This investment will not bring any income until 2030. Estimated cost for the easy section between Merced and Bakersfield was $133 million/km in February 21, more than 10 times the cost, adjusted for inflation, of the Sevilla HSR.
@@alaindumas1824 LOL what 😆😆.
Basically the ground can't be privatly owned in China and as well a lot of cost in america come from a lot of legal cases.
@@Neuzahnstein precisely
@@Neuzahnstein You are right , there is poor private property rights in China. Basically Chinese Government can just take your land and use it for railways that's the thing (but there is compensation for this though and people do get new housing).
But ultimately who is gonna use /benefit from the HSR Chinese people only right not Government members???. For example take a look at Xian HSR station . It is crowded as f**k. And Chunyun??? Let's not even talk about the situation during Chunyun. You can't lay your leg in any of the Chinese rail stations and this includes even their HSR stations too.
Thanks for the update. Looking forward to more. Dave
With increasing taxes in California, population is declining... Isn't it too late to build it now?...
Not for the people who actually can afford the million dollar homes in the state, whom this exactly caters to.
@@MasterExploder61 I don't think there are going to be a lot of them. You see, taxes are one of the biggest enemies of the rich and when they go up, the rich are first to move out!
Hello! do you have information about the stations in the cities where it stops?
That conclusion... Where can I vote for you??!
Haha, as soon as you see my name on a ballot, I promise you, I will have sold out
Well, you might consider supporting him on Patreon.
Well done. Thank you for your efforts.
The problem is that there isn't sufficient demand for either entire-length or incremental travel on this route. And even if there was, once you get to the stations or the ends, you still have what planners call the "last mile" to get you to your final destination.
In Japan, there are several speeds of Bullets trains (Shinkansen) that stop at different stations along the way (so faster "thru" Shinkansen (Nozomi) can pass while the slower "local" Shinkansen (Kodama) are stopped for picking up/letting off passengers at the smaller stations). The distance between each of these stations is critical to the schedule for timing the passing.
At each Shinkansen station, you can connect with multiple subways, local rail lines, buses and taxis to get to your final destination. In Tokyo or Nagoya (probably every city), when you rent an apartment or buy a house, the walking time to the nearest subway/train/bus station is rarely over 15-20 minutes and usually less than 10 min. It is often the deciding factor when considering where to live.
The American culture still revolves around the car so our cities, highways, infrastructure has been car-centric for most of a hundred years. High speed rail in Fresno or Bakersfield isn't going to change that. Where there is demand for eliminating vehicle congestion is between LA and Las Vegas, where Hwy 15 gets so congested that it often takes two or three extra hours to drive what should be a 5 hour drive. Holiday weekends are the worst, but it happens every weekend now on Friday and Sunday. That would have been a better location to start this kind of project, but that would have required better leadership from politicians.
With uber and lyft, the "last mile" is not really relevant.
It would be real interesting to see what data you have that shows insufficient demand for "entire-length/incremental" along this route!
@@chrisstromberg6527 If there was great demand on that route, then the airlines would all be selling-out seats (or adding LA-SAC flights). Or, there would be congestion on Hwy 5 and 99 between cities along the route (CALTRANS would be reporting increases in miles-travelled on those highways and/or Greyhound would be reporting sold-out busses). That's why I explained the LA-Las Vegas congestion issue - it shows where demand is - rather than looking for solutions to problems that don't exist simply for political reasons.
The point of my comment was that you can't have the "if we build it they will come" mentality especially when the cost is so astronomical that it'll never be paid back in any of our lifetimes. I doubt any private company would take this on since the ROI isn't there. That's why many people who can afford to are leaving California - the ridiculous spending on "bridges/trains to nowhere" just adds to the crazy taxes. Unless there is a comprehensive door-to-door solution, a train alone isn't going to solve anything.
Better solutions than spending billions for little benefit are necessary. To solve the "last mile" issue there is an Amtrak Auto-Train that runs from Virginia to Florida down I-95 (and back). Like the European Channel-Tunnel between London and France, you take your car with you on auto-rack cars and sleep overnight on the passenger train for the 800 mile trip on existing rail lines. But that's the only one in the US - lack of demand or lack of interest? I don't know, but it wouldn't take billions to add those trains to existing overnight rail routes in other states. That would judge demand and convenience.
Japan is roughly the size of California and, because of the mountains the population is mostly clustered along the east coast. The extent of the major population centers are a little farther apart than the distance from San Diego to Sacramento, so the Tokaido Shinkansen works for them, but they convinced the population to accept it since it started in the mid-1960s. And rail travel was predominant since the 1950s and the Japanese people have accepted mass-transit for generations. Americans, not so much. The US is so large that only air travel would be practical for coast-to-coast travel, so the airline industry won't go away and airlines will likely undercut any high-speed rail fare just to keep the people in their planes. That's reality.
This whole thing is just a solution looking for a problem that doesn't really exist.
Excellent video and great ending words! Thanks for the work you put into this
Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it!
I want to keep all the Amtrak trains all year and every year.
@@Sweetteawillie You can partially blame Maryland for both the B&P Tunnel and Susquehanna Bridge issues
finally someone that isn't making a video to be negative, high speed rail once built out and functioning along with the additional benefits that come with it is finished people won't know why they didn't build it sooner
Well over 4 trillion dollars was spent on American interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Just imagine if a quarter of that money had been spent on high-speed rail and metro construction in the United States.
Great video my friend. Plz keep them coming. I work for UPRR out of roseville and pass under the north fresno gateway all the time. I'm really looking forward to the day our uprr train and A CHSR train meet there at the same time. Let's hope the WHOLE project does get finished in our lifetime!!
My Mom remembers "The Roseville Yard Bombing" from the late 60's.
about 2 years ago I tried to argue my brother that electric locomotives can pull freight and they are a good way to cut down on CO2 emissions, he won by spewing BS in waterways because I was 11 at the time, knew a lot about trains, just not modern ones, and he was 10 years older than I so he could argue much better... I kinda want to restart that argument just to see if I could convince him
Yeah, there are numerous examples of electric freight trains around the world (which I’m sure you know). Even the ACS-64, while being lighter than say an ES44 has like 9,000 horsepower, which is like a lot lol
9,000 horsepower in a locomotive lighter than an ES44 has to make you wonder how much they struggle with wheel slip, because even the big boys could only reach around 6,000 or 7,000
Indeed. I would imagine given their relatively light train weights, that it’s not a huge problem, and I believe the on board computers try to limit wheel slip, but I’m sure it definitely happens lol
@@awildjared1396
In Germany modern four-axle electric locomotives have replaced older six-axle locomotives that also weighed around 50 tonnes more. With traction control and individual motor control they can actually achieve more traction than the older locos, but will struggle in very slippery conditions.
Every locomotive is electric. They are all basically hybrids.
Great job with all of your work on this! been watching for a while now including CHSR and LA transit footage. Keep it up!!!👍
Thanks a lot!