Michael S. Dukakis: L.A.-S.F. train is a quick traffic fix

[question everything]

From the Los Angeles Times

L.A.-S.F. train is a quick traffic fix

By Michael S. Dukakis and Arthur H. Purcell
MICHAEL S. DUKAKIS, former Massachusetts governor and past vice chairman of Amtrak, teaches political science and public policy at Northeastern University and UCLA. ARTHUR H. PURCELL is an environment

July 7, 2006

IF MAYOR Antonio Villaraigosa wants to relieve traffic congestion and reduce transportation energy use, he should join his Bay Area counterpart in pushing for high-speed rail in California. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom recently spent a day in Sacramento to make the case for high-speed rail and to support AB 713, which would put the state's moribund rail bond issue on the 2008 ballot.

The California High Speed Rail Authority has developed a plan for a rail network to link our major metropolitan areas with 200-mph passenger trains. If implemented, it would mean that L.A.-to-San Francisco travel would take just three hours. Supported by past governors of both parties, the system would not only link the two cities, it would connect them with Sacramento, San Jose, the Central Valley, Riverside and San Diego.

A bond issue to fund initial high-speed rail work has been long delayed by politics. This is where City Hall comes in. The two mayors have the vision and the mandates to not only significantly improve public transportation networks in their cities but to reshape the state's crowded north-south air and ground transportation corridor.

(snip)

San Francisco and L.A. have long struggled with costly airport expansion plans that have been fought tooth and nail by the communities most affected by them. The estimated tab for expanding these airports runs into the billions of dollars, and in both cities, the debate over expansion seems destined to go on for years. There are dozens of flights each day, carrying 10,000 to 15,000 passengers, between the metropolitan areas of these two cities. Currently, one-third of the flights out of LAX and SFO are for trips of 350 miles or less. A high-speed rail system would be a viable alternative to some if not all those trips, easing traffic congestion and reducing pressures to expand local airports.

(snip)

Californians spend increasingly longer times stuck in traffic — in cities and between cities. The state needs high-speed rail, and it needs strong support from its political leaders to achieve it. Villaraigosa and Newsom can do something that has been all too rare: unite the state's two major cities in a common cause that will pay dividends for their communities and the entire state for generations to come.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-dukakis7jul07,1,5014446.story

[Warpy]

1. The problem with the rail lines in the late 1800s and early 1900s

is that people only valued east to west transit. The north-south axis was largely ignored in most of the country.

If I want to go to El Paso 250 miles to the south, I have to go by way of LA.

This is nuts.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. He's right, and it will never happen.

Too many people would rather pretend that adding new freeways (at a cost of God knows how much just to acquire the land) is the only answer.

Dukakis used to ride Boston subways from his house to the state house when he was governor. He knows how effective mass transit can be.

The Northeast corridor trains of Amtrak are always busy. Creating a high speed SF/San Jose to L.A. run should be a no brainer because of the population density and the high level of traffic between the two regions. Same for San Diego to L.A.

[question everything]

3. And, for some reason, we expect federal funds for freeways

but not for railways.

Additional benefit for such a project is that it generates good, skilled jobs that cannot be outsourced.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. I'd like to send all the rail naysayers for a ride on Japan's Shinkansen

"bullet train."

I rode it a couple of times on my last trip.




This is Nagoya Station, about 150 miles from Tokyo. Note that trains leave for Tokyo every 3 to 7 minutes. (The sign flashes between Japanese and English. I caught it in its English mode.)