Letters: Making the bullet train fly
Re “A high-speed rail alternative,” Opinion, Dec. 16
Stuart Flashman lays out a very reasonable plan for high-speed rail, one that, as he points out, was largely proposed by the California Intercity High-Speed Rail Commission in 1996. It is very important to discern that this previous route down Interstate 5 and through the Altamont Pass is a sensible and viable one as opposed to the slow, damaging and circuitous route created to satisfy political interests.
Before destroying businesses, farms, homes and wildlife habitat along the currently proposed route, the California High-Speed Rail Authority should freeze spending and take Flashman’s advice.
What is the point of spending billions on an inefficient system that may not be completed or sustained? Any land-taking now will just unnecessarily hurt a lot of people and damage natural resources.
Kathleen Trinity
Acton
A high-speed rail alternative already exists that will not add to the taxpayers’ burden. It is called the Boeing 737.
With a cruise speed of 500 mph, it travels twice as fast as a high-speed train and requires only a mile or so of pavement at each end of a trip. The air is free compared to the staggering cost of laying track. Unlike rail, aircraft can be sent to wherever the traffic warrants.
Air and rail share the problem of not being door-to-door transportation systems. The problems with security at airports will be dwarfed by securing all the stations and hundreds of miles of track.
Stop the runaway train before billions more are wasted.
Murry I. Rozansky
Chatsworth
With thousands of daily passengers flying from Southern California to the Bay Area, the airlines could be a major player in high-speed rail. Electrified rail would save them fuel costs and serve the growing intrastate traveling public more efficiently.
A direct line following the I-5 corridor would have little impact on farms and private land, take up a fraction of the space compared to a freeway and, at less than three hours’ travel time, would meet the expectations voters approved in 2008.
High-speed rail is already up and running in other countries. It is not rocket science and should not cost an exorbitant amount of money to build.
Dennis Arntz
Laguna Niguel
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