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But you wouldn't think so from NBC Bay Area's "What Happened to California's High Speed Rail Project," a slickly produced piece by reporter Stephen Stock. We're not looking to disclaim everything in the piece--there are legitimate (if familiar) critiques and points to be made about the construction plan, funding, etc. But it's really astounding to see a piece that states that when the HSR spine from Merced to Bakersfield is completed, there will be no way to get between the HSR line and San Francisco "except for maybe taking a bus."
You can find that about one minute in:
Here's a map of Amtrak's San Joaquin service. Note the stop at Merced:
A map of Amtrak's existing connections to Merced. Image: Amtrak
A picture of Amtrak in Merced. Photo: Calpartours.
The NBC story's contention that the state is building an orphaned line between Bakersfield and Merced is just nonsense. And yet the whole story pivots on that "fact." We asked NBC to correct the error. So far we haven't heard back.
You can read it here, but, among other things, he writes that if funds were diverted:
Ridership on Metrolink would double between Burbank and Anaheim, relieving freeway congestion, and new high-speed electric trains would slash emissions along the route under a plan that would shift up to $5.5 billion from the bullet train project in the Central Valley to Southern California.
He spends quite a bit of time, again, talking about a Metrolink proposal for "Zero Emissions" train on this Southern California corridor that would be funded with the HSR money. Somehow, he concludes that "Zero Emissions" means "battery powered" even though the word "battery" doesn't appear anywhere in the Metrolink proposal. Nevertheless, Vartabedian writes that the scheme is to use battery-powered trains because:
The battery systems would avoid a multibillion-dollar program of building an overhead high-voltage power system, which freight railroads oppose because of the impact on double-stacked container cars.
First of all, there aren't any high-speed trains that run on batteries. As to the clearance issue, that may sound like a reason it's not plausible to electrify California's commuter rail services that share tracks with freight. Except here's a double-stacked container car freight train under overhead wire in Pennsylvania next to a Philadelphia commuter train:
Here's a double-stack freight train in Pennsylvania running next to a Philadelphia commuter train (a "Zero Emissions Vehicle" that has no batteries). Photo: a Railfan page/post.
LAPD got approval from the Police Commission to extend their BolaWrap pilot on Metro in August, but hadn't advised Metro of their plans until after the fact.