(Schwarzenneger - R-California) State asks feds for $4.7 billion for speedy trains (stimulus funds)

[UpInArms]

Source: Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger requested $4.7 billion in federal stimulus money Friday to help build an 800-mile bullet train system from San Diego to San Francisco.

<snip>

Schwarzenegger told a news conference at Los Angeles' Union Station that it was time for U.S. rail networks to achieve speeds reached by systems in Europe and Asia.

"We're traveling on our trains at the same speed as 100 years ago," the governor said. "That is inexcusable. America must catch up."

<snip>

The application filed Friday seeks more than half of an $8 billion pot of stimulus money set aside for high-speed rail development across the country.

Schwarzenegger said California deserved such a large chunk because it is farther along in planning than other states and is ready to break ground in 2011, a year earlier than federal guidelines call for.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i0OD7AJj2mfsgxLnuvfyMrUSj75AD9B36VLG2

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I thought republicans didn't want stimulus money?

[Garbo 2004]

1. Ahnie's eagerly accepted stimulus money for CA and has lobbied for more.

IIRC he even offered to take stimulus money that other Repub gov's said they didn't want.

[Cant trust em]

2. Schwarzenegger's been all about it.

One of the greatest quotes I've ever heard.

SCHWARZENEGGER: "Well, Governor Sanford says that he does not want to take the money, the federal stimulus package money. And I want to say to him: I'll take it. I'm more than happy to take his money or any other governor in this country that doesn't want to take this money, I take it, because we in California can need it."

It was better on video. As an actor, he's got pretty good comic timing.

[UpInArms]

3. thanks for getting me up to speed on that - somehow I was under

the impression that the r's were acting as a "block" (in more ways than one)

:hi:

[Cant trust em]

4. National GOPers differ from the guys on the state level

If Schwarzenegger were national, he'd be totally off the reservation.

[Auggie]

5. Huge waste of money

California needs improvements in localized public transit more than a north to south link.

[KamaAina]

7. Maybe we could arrange for some of the $$ to go to feeder projects

additional light rail here in San Jose, for instance, that would connect with this high-speed service at Diridon Station.

[bananas]

8. Some of it does

about 10%, IIRC.

[Xithras]

11. IMO, our rail system development is being handled completely backwards

We would be far better off using the money to develop local and regional rail systems, and then link them via high speed thru-lines. The problem with the current model is that the overwhelming majority of fuel usage, road congestion, and pollution are generated by local and regional traffic, and the current high speed rail proposals do nothing to address that. As one of the board members of the California High Speed Rail Authority so infamously stated, "Our goal is to link Northern and Southern California, not alleviate traffic on the freeway." Seems to me that she kinda missed the point.

[harmonicon]

15. that problem is far more complicated than you suggest

These communities and the populations that move within and between them would make much light rail ridiculously complex and expensive. Los Angeles just isn't set up for it. To figure that LA really means LA county and bits of the surrounding counties, I don't know how much light rail could really help. The subway is a good start, but it still won't let someone commute from their home in a place like Santa Clarita to a job in Industry City - these smaller communities would need systems just within themselves. At least with a high speed train there would be a decrease in long distance freeway traffic and air traffic - it would also make life a hell of a lot easier for many people who need to make those long trips rather frequently.

[noiretextatique]

6. it would be fantastic to have high-speed trains

it takes six hours by car to get to LA from Oakland, and twelve hours by Amtrak. only an hour to fly, but i'd prefer to take the train.

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. Sure, but is ANYONE else in LA willing to travel without their car besides you?

Why does it take 12 hours by train? Do they stop, occasionally, for garlic or abalone?

[Bette Noir]

21. I got stuck on an Amtrak train, stopped on a siding for 3 hours,

a mile from my destination. That was the last time I took the train.

[MindPilot]

23. If there were a viable alternative, yes.

The passenger trains have to yield to the freights, so they frequently have to wait on a siding for them to pass. And the tracks are in such crappy condition that they can't go very fast. In fact most of the route parallels the freeway and is usually slower than the cars.

We generally take our abalone & garlic on board with us, alone with a nice Napa Valley white.

[nytemare]

10. I agree with Arnie here.

The whole country needs a better rail system, and the system now is stuck in 1965. In Germany, you can go anywhere you want to go within 2 blocks by either using the U or S Bahn, Ice rail, or bus.

It may be a little less feasible in America due to urban sprawl, but our transportation system is really a shambles. This should have been started in the 70's or 80's.

[scribble]

19. You don't understand the problem.

You really don't understand the problem. It bears repeating.

Let's say you want to go to LA. You get off the train thirty miles away from where you need to go. How are you going to get from the depot to your branch office or your brother's house?

This train is a joke because most residents can't get within fifty miles of where they're going. It starts nowhere; goes by nothing; ends nowhere; and costs way too much; and THEN you have to spend even more time and money taking a cab or renting a car to continue your journey. They don't do THAT in Europe.

This money would be better spent on 1)finishing light rail in the Bay Area; 2) extending light rail in the LA area, and 3) improving existing the criminally horrific track conditions between LA and San Francisco. Trains take 12 hours to make that 3/5 hour journey today, because the tracks won't let the trains go more than 20 miles an hour for half the journey.

Now; if we did that, we'd still have money to improve existing regional airports in BOTH LA AND the Bay Area. All this improvement would create MORE JOBS for all of us here in california than Arnie's space cadet train would generate, AND those jobs would be created in areas where the jobs were needed; not five hours away in the middle of noplace.

Really. Germany and France are NOT California. Take a second look.


sc

[busybl]

12. yeah, who needs schools or abuse shelters

when you can have a fast train.

[dana_b]

13. exactly what I was thinking. n/t

[Fearless]

17. Trains are actually a very good stimulus...

It increases the ability for those in SoCal to commute to jobs they may not ordinarily have had a shot at. It also tends to help the economy and could increase flow of people from the city into the more wealthy suburbs. They do need schools, and a revamped prison system for that matter, and much more, but why penalize him when he's doing something good?

[Tikki]

24. +1

[daleo]

14. Didn't Proposition 18 limit the speed of trains

To never exceed the 1978 level?

[2QT2BSTR8]

16. You have a budget deficit, and you want a major construction go ahead?

Government, my policies left my state so far in debt... Anyhow would you the government, who is also broke, pay for for our new train system?

[Fearless]

18. It would create jobs, and mobility, possibly economic stimuli...

Spending money does end recessions/depressions... think WWII, granted on a smaller and slightly less sharp scale (as there were other factors then as well).

[Bette Noir]

20. I have a couple of questions.

1. What makes Arnie think one state should have more than half the money allocated for the whole country?

2. San Diego and San Francisco are not 800 miles apart. What route is he planning to take?

As a patriotic native Californian, I would be delighted to see high-speed rail here, but I think our illustrious Governator may be overreaching himself.

[defendandprotect]

22. Only after he restores funding to CA women's shelters . . .!!!

[Garbo 2004]

25. CA voters approved high speed rail system measure in Nov 2008.

Schwarzenegger's asking for ARRA Fed funds to support the project. (CA voters persist in voting for such bond measures as if it's "free money." It's not. Such bond measures increase the state's financial obligations.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_High-Speed_Rail