I just need to point out here how much I truly love the TGV; or rather rail travel in general throughout Europe. Speeding from city center to city center in very little time, efficient, on schedule, frequent, comfortable, relatively clean and through interesting countryside. The TGV has almost eliminated commercial air travel within France, as it is so much more convenient to simply take the train, with similar travel times, less stringent security screening (though in Spain it looked like they were getting more serious about it on some routes, no doubt in wake of the Madrid bombings,) and generally you can grab a metro from near your home to the main railway station, eliminating the need for parking hassles, etc... Even the local trains are very quick, and since they run on electrical lines overhead, they don't kick out pollutants non-stop, and are fairly quiet compared to the big Diesel-Electrics on American rails. (We know, we used to live next to the train station in SLO!)
I am sure that someone might point out how European rail travel is imperfect, or subsidized by the government, etc... But think about how we subsidize the auto industry in this country, with our road building and maintenance, our billions-of-dollars-a-week oil wars, publicly funded parking structures, etc... Or the way we keep bailing out the domestic air carriers when they fail to manage their businesses effectively (though Southwest is proving that a company can cut costs while keeping service at a high level, providing some of the lowest fares by ensuring its bottom line is healthy - without government handouts or nickle-and-diming its clients.)
Rail travel here in California is a far cry from that of Europe. I took an Amtrak train from San Luis Obispo to Martinez CA last year, when I had a meeting up in Sonoma, and a ride home available. It was a study in mediocrity. The trip took nearly 8 hours, (driving takes about 4-5 hours,) the train was nearly empty of people. The train was slow - we had to pull over numerous times to let freight trains pass. Mostly, it traveled through the industrial areas of the towns we went through, although the scenery on the Central Coast is pretty amazing to look at (particularly on the way south, along the ocean toward Santa Barbara.) The train was filthy, the windows were all smudged, so it was tough to get a good view outside. The interior was stuffy and uncomfortable, the food that was available was comparable to that available in a second or third-tier gas station. I at least expected that there would be a wireless internet connection, so that I could be somewhat productive on the journey, but no, not even that was available. And with crappy schedules, I could only arrive at 11pm in Martinez, the train station nestled alongside a grubby portside oil refinery with no travelers amenities at all - had to wait 20 minutes for a cab to arrive after the station master locked me out in the drizzle.
Imagine if there was a high-speed train available on this route instead. At 150-200 miles per hour, a trip into San Francisco could be cut in half - even with a number of station stops, it would take less than 2 hours. Or Los Angeles to San Francisco in 3 hours, even with stops in San Fernando Valley, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Salinas, San Jose? I have to think that ridership would be very high, particularly with the frustration involved in getting to LAX / SFO with your car, security clearances, flight delays, etc... And using electric energy rather than gas is a no-brainer - most of California is so sunny that a large amount of the daytime need could be met by solar arrays along the right-of way, with nighttime runs using less expensive off-peak transmissions.
I am sure that someone might point out how European rail travel is imperfect, or subsidized by the government, etc... But think about how we subsidize the auto industry in this country, with our road building and maintenance, our billions-of-dollars-a-week oil wars, publicly funded parking structures, etc... Or the way we keep bailing out the domestic air carriers when they fail to manage their businesses effectively (though Southwest is proving that a company can cut costs while keeping service at a high level, providing some of the lowest fares by ensuring its bottom line is healthy - without government handouts or nickle-and-diming its clients.)
Rail travel here in California is a far cry from that of Europe. I took an Amtrak train from San Luis Obispo to Martinez CA last year, when I had a meeting up in Sonoma, and a ride home available. It was a study in mediocrity. The trip took nearly 8 hours, (driving takes about 4-5 hours,) the train was nearly empty of people. The train was slow - we had to pull over numerous times to let freight trains pass. Mostly, it traveled through the industrial areas of the towns we went through, although the scenery on the Central Coast is pretty amazing to look at (particularly on the way south, along the ocean toward Santa Barbara.) The train was filthy, the windows were all smudged, so it was tough to get a good view outside. The interior was stuffy and uncomfortable, the food that was available was comparable to that available in a second or third-tier gas station. I at least expected that there would be a wireless internet connection, so that I could be somewhat productive on the journey, but no, not even that was available. And with crappy schedules, I could only arrive at 11pm in Martinez, the train station nestled alongside a grubby portside oil refinery with no travelers amenities at all - had to wait 20 minutes for a cab to arrive after the station master locked me out in the drizzle.
Imagine if there was a high-speed train available on this route instead. At 150-200 miles per hour, a trip into San Francisco could be cut in half - even with a number of station stops, it would take less than 2 hours. Or Los Angeles to San Francisco in 3 hours, even with stops in San Fernando Valley, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Salinas, San Jose? I have to think that ridership would be very high, particularly with the frustration involved in getting to LAX / SFO with your car, security clearances, flight delays, etc... And using electric energy rather than gas is a no-brainer - most of California is so sunny that a large amount of the daytime need could be met by solar arrays along the right-of way, with nighttime runs using less expensive off-peak transmissions.
What if we could cut the number of cars driving back and forth on highway 5 & 101 by a few hundred thousand a year? Maybe millions of trips a year? That would have to do something good for the oil situation, right? Probably a lot faster and a lot more permanent solution than drilling in the Arctic, or off the coast of South Beach for oil that we couldn't fill our tank with for at least another 15-20 years?
1 comment:
Right on brother!! - Melanie
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