High Speed Trains: Accelerating California into the Future

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma tours the French High Speed Rail system

MOVING CALIFORNIA FORWARD
As promised, one of my top priorities in this legislative session has been working towards building a high speed rail system to transport Californians across the state, modeled on those in countries like France and Japan.  The 2007 Budget included $15.5 million allocated for the Authority. While this falls short of the money needed to complete engineering and environmental work, it still keeps the project alive.  We hope that next year's budget can include the full amount of money needed to get this project off of the ground so that Californians can have High Speed Train service sooner rather than later.

Assemblywoman Ma meets with Japanese High Speed Rail Authorities to discuss the success of their system and plans to develop a similar system in California

In order for our state to continue innovating to protect our environment and to stay economically competitive, California needs the vision to prioritize spending for the modern day transportation system that is desperately lacking. The cost of building the project is a small price to pay for the enormous environmental and economic benefits of high-speed trains. In California, the high-speed train system will combat global warming by saving the state more than 5 million barrels of oil annually and by reducing CO2 emissions by 12.4 billion pounds per year. High speed trains will also create jobs. Over 450,000 high-paying permanent jobs are estimated to be created once the system is up and running and these jobs cannot be sent overseas.  The project also has the potential to provide thousands of construction jobs throughout the state, including a substantial amount in the Central Valley.

The system, which will carry 86 million passengers annually across the state, will be reliable and affordable. No longer will you have to wait in traffic, wait in long lines, or languish at the airport. A trip on a train, which will travel over 220 mph, from San Francisco to Los Angeles will only take 2 ½ hours and will cost about half the price of a plane ticket.

High-speed trains are also safe. There has never been a fatal accident in the Japanese line and the seismic engineering that the earthquake-prone country has developed will ensure that a California system will be more than capable of withstanding a major quake. 

French high speed rail travels up to speeds of 575.8 kilometers per hour (which is 357.18 miles per hour).  At this speed, one could travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in about a little over an hour for a cost that is less than an airline ticket. California’s proposed line would travel 220 mph.

VIDEO: The French TGV new record at 574.8 kmh (357.2mph)

The proposed high speed rail line: