I was reading the Bottleneck Blog today, and it said that France recently set the convential rail speed record, and it is only a few mph slower than Maglev. So, will California HSR be able to go this fast, and if so, what would the trip from Union Station to SF be?

3 hours and about 3o min, door to door.

final reports are fun to read :okay:

The blog says 2 and a half hours at only 220 mph. So what would that be for something even faster?

yah um... dont believe blogs... read reports

I know security of the track would be very high..like no level crossings and animals wandering onto track !!! But ...freaks me out a bit, that fast on rails...

The political will behind this is surprisingly high in Cali. Just saw a report on the news about some Cali delegates going to France to observe. It will be on the ballot next year, hopefully.

about fucking time we get an alternative to domestic flights. the us is massivly behind in advancing they way we move

And if we decide to do this, can we just raise taxes instead of getting another bond? We're gonna have some huge debts in the future unless we start raising taxes. As if our budget isn't bad enough.

There was a special report on CNBC the other day about California getting a high speed rail line from Sacramento to San Deigo. The guy for it did a good job presenting the merits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahsr
http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/
It will be 2.5 hours from SF Transbay to LAUS for an express run.
More for local run.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/34500
Ya there were about 6 CA political types there for the run, one even on the train.
I hope this gets built.

Maglev is the future. But the near future, not the far. If we want to have a clean fast alternative for regional travel, than just airplanes and cars/buses.

I'm a fan of maglev. I'm just wondering what all that electromagnetism might do to people's health, and if there is anyway to reduce the negative effects. Its better to get all the cobwebs and issues out front, so those lawsuits won't be to hefty in the future.

Regardless, I'm all for maglev trains.

right... this is high speed rail. not maglev. just get something in there now. and then spend the time to do R&D later

Schwarzenegger's analysts aren't dummies, I hate to agree but this thing gets killed at the ballot. I think that the Los Angeles (Anaheim) to Las Vegas proposal has a greater chance of becoming reality.

Schwarzenegger's analysts aren't dummies, I hate to agree but this thing gets killed at the ballot. I think that the Los Angeles (Anaheim) to Las Vegas proposal has a greater chance of becoming reality.

It's probably just a pipe dream..but I believe there's growing support for high speed rail between the two regions. Is there enough support if a ballot measure is put forth before voters? I dunno, but who really knows? We'll see...

As far as the Los Angeles to Las Vegas proposal would concern...I see it only benefiting the denizens of Las Vegas and Nevada...unless 'Vegas' steps up to the plate and pays for it, I don't see how its beneficial to Southern Calfornian tax-payers. If Vegas wants our tourism dollars so badly...Heck, they can fork out the billions of dollars it would require to build it across the Death Valley/Mojave Desert! I'll certainly support that proposal!!! :lol:

^^ Your absolutely right Trance about Vegas being the biggest beneficiry. It would only be fair for Nevada to put the bill.....

I would like to see these routes:

A) Union Station------> Cabo San Lucas (Baja)
B) Union Station------> San Francisco

I was reading the Bottleneck Blog today, and it said that France recently set the convential rail speed record, and it is only a few mph slower than Maglev.
The record was stablished at 574'3 km/h, but the commercial speed of the TGV it's only a few more than 300 km/h (not more than 350 km/h in any case). That is because many things were modified for the record, for example all the bogies of the train were engines, the power supply was increased from the HS usual 25.000 volts to 31.000 volts, the wheels of the train were bigger than usual ones... So it was not a commercial train but a prototype for the record...

In Spain the train speed record with a commercial train is 404 km/h, with a Siemens Velaro, during the testing of this trains, but the maximum commercial speed for this train is 350 km/h... For a normal rail infrastructure, not MagLev, there is not any train with more than 350 km/h of commercial speed...

You are right, the speed will be 320km/h, which is already quite fast.