Category Archives: railways

High Speed Rail Audit in California. Biggest Cost Driver?

Not acquiring land prior to beginning construction is cited as the largest cost driver according to an audit of California’s High Speed Rail project.

Rushed construction contributed to $600 million in cost overruns in a single segment of the high spped project. 

What happens if the project fails to accelerate the project? It will be forced to repay up to $3.5 billion to the federal government

Sacramento Bee | Rushed construction cost high-speed rail $600 million and delays mount, audit finds

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Business TREND. Texas Central Rail Top 100 Infrastructure Project. New Report. What you need to know:

Report is by: CG/LA, a national infrastructure advocacy group

The report:  Strategic 100 North American Infrastructure Report

What analytical factors are considered?

  • Contribution to global, regional, and national competitiveness;
  • Contribution to local and regional economic productivity;
  • Job creation potential over the lifetime of the project;
  • Business opportunity in the next 3-18 months, and over the lifetime of the project;
  • Carbon efficiency / Sustainability;
  • Country’s track record for…

TREND. 6 Reasons California is talking about scrapping its High Speed Rail

 

  • not feasible financially 
  • not feasible politically
  • its a costly failure, it’d be cheaper if California bought Southwest Airlines and flew Californians around
  • High Speed Rail project is a net greenhouse gas producer
  • The questions outweigh the answers, we need tangible gains from the project
  • let’s ask voters, again

Sacramento Bee | Should California Scrap its High Speed Rail?

Activist TREND. 5 Anti Eminent Domain. Anti High Speed Rallies in Texas.

5 High Speed Rail opposition rallies are planned in Texas concerning the “ill-conceived Texas Land Grab Project”:

6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16 — Truman Kimbro Center, 111 West Trinity Street in Madisonville

•5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23 —Jewett Civic Center, 111 Robinson Rd. in Jewett

•6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov.  8 — Grimes County Expo Center, 5220 FM 3455 in Navasota

•6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15 — House Estate, 15743 House Road in Hockley

•6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19 — Ellis County Women’s Building,…

6 Opposition Points. Letter to the Editor. Texas High Speed Rail.

A person who:

  • owns property in Leon Co. 
  • is not directly impacted by Central Texas Rail 
  • has been the fundraising chair for Texans Against HSR

Opposition rational:

  • how Texas Central agents treat people
  • critically flawed Federal Railroad Administration’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement
  • bad for our natural resources
  • bad for communitites
  • no need for the project
  • no financial viability 

Navasota Examiner | Letters to the Editor – TAHSR

Business TREND. 3 Reasons a rail project opposes another high speed rail project in Texas.

SNCF America says Central Texas Partners high speed rail proposal in Texas will:

  • Japan is not right for Texas. ” Texas Central “project is right for Japanese companies subsidized by Japanese taxpayers and wrong for Texas,””
  • Texans should decide on rail.  Texas should decide whether projects are high speed rail or  fast trains
  • Rail should connect to other projects. The Japanese high speed rail has an interoperability problem in that it cannot connect to other rail.

Dallas Morning News | Rival…

Regulatory TREND. Fall 2018 Opposition Arguments to Texas High Speed Rail.

Ellis County residents offered the following reasons to oppose Texas Central Rail high speed rail project:

  • local property taxes will rise because “nearby properties will be taken out of the tax base”
  • eminent domain a railroad could take a 2 mile on each side swatch of land
  • destruction of family farms
  • uncertainty  too many unknowns for the comfort level of residents
  • environmental concerns the train will cut species migration

Waxahachie Daily Light | Ellis County Residents Express new…

How a republican Governor Became a YES on a high speed rail plan.

A High Speed Rail plan in Florida now contains a financial investment by Florida’s Govenror Rick Scott. 

What’s the background? in 2011, Gov. Rick Scott cancelled a high speed rail plan that included a $2.4 billion federally funded and shovel-ready bullet train from Orlando to Tampa

Now in 2018, after his investment, Governor Scott supports the high speed rail.

Miami Herald | Rick Scott killed a high-speed rail plan. Then All Aboard rolled up and he bought it.

 

New White Paper from the Right 4 Reasons High Speed Rail Won't Work in Texas.

Whose study?Heartland Institute

3 Reasons High Speed Rail Won’t Work in Texas:

  • “cost estimate is likely far below the actual price”
    • cost estimates in other high speed rail projects have underestimated costs
    • Reason.com says it will cost tax payers $21.5 billion
  • Look at the problems California has has building its easiest leg through the Central Valley
  • Almost all rail in the US is expensive and underutilitized
  • “Texas Central seems hell-bent on using eminent domain to force property…