HSR-PREP

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76912095522335768722011-12-14T21:56:32.222-08:00HSR-PREPHigh Speed Rail - Peninsula Rail Engagement ProjectHSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comBlogger251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-42395659536129752612010-12-03T08:59:00.000-08:002011-07-24T15:23:04.061-07:00China HSR. Should We Follow Their Lead?

The Pros and Cons. The Pros and Cons of the burgeoning Chinese HSR system are discussed in this article by Bloomberg News dated December 3, 2010. Bouyed by Government spending, cheap labor, and lax environmental laws, the new rail systems have produced job growth for some and as long as they are pouring concrete there is good opportunity for investment in Rail. Only time will tell if the benefits

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-76420591138725097182010-12-02T21:34:00.000-08:002011-07-28T13:27:36.528-07:00Jobs American?

Who Will Really Get the Jobs?Opportunity costs: Will building HSR create more jobs than it kills? I can't speak to the numbers in this article about the state of our existing nationwide infrastructure, but it does provide food for thought because building HSR will mean having to forego expenditures on long overdue repairs to what we already have in place. With the nation's and the state's current

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-9487041229368791242010-11-30T01:07:00.000-08:002010-12-04T23:27:18.009-08:00HSR in CA Dwindling Down - Plan B

November 29, 2010. Is this is what the promised SF to LA HSR system is coming down to? The private investors have yet to step forward, the full amount of federal money is not materializing. Because of a lack of funds, it seems the HSRA Board can only consider building 65 miles of elevated, pseudo HSR track connecting not two major cities, but two small towns without stations in the central valley

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-31440947477766496882010-11-17T16:50:00.001-08:002011-07-28T11:47:30.887-07:00Cities Lining Up Against HSR

Cities Lining Up Against the the HSR Project as it Stands.City Councils Vote "No Confidence" in the HSR Board.ChowchillaGilroyBurlingameMenlo ParkPalo AltoCity of OrangeRedwood City (said it in a letter but did not vote "no confidence"Atherton (took it further voting to outright oppose this project as it stands)AnaheimLaw Suit Questioning the Legality of the Program Level Environmental Impact

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-90002916439773495072010-11-07T20:28:00.000-08:002010-11-19T17:45:35.170-08:00A Statewide Grass Roots Movement

High Speed Boondoggle is a statewide grass roots movement to raise awareness using visual aids, including lawn signs and videos, in an effort to control the wayward high speed rail project by driving citizens to the legislators because it is the legislators that pull the purse strings. They have a website here and a facebook fan page here. The website contains easy cut and paste forms with the

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-79071847040081359732010-10-06T17:19:00.000-07:002010-10-06T17:26:56.051-07:00HSRA Re-Configured Website

October 6, 2010. The HSRA has redesigned their website. Unfortunately, in the process, they have relegated all of the HSRA links found in this HSR-PREP useless. Please bear with me as I try to unearth all of the new locations for each link. This will take some time as I have a life outside of HSR. Thank you very much HSRA!

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-46345049149093533412010-09-04T12:43:00.000-07:002011-09-10T12:00:40.493-07:00HSR Authority Board Members

Updates. January 1, 2011. Governor Schwarzenegger made several appointments to the California High Speed Rail Authority Board on the eve of his departure. The Governor is allowed to appoint 5 of the 9 members of the Authority board, and none of those appointments require Senate confirmation. The Governor took action on three of the slots. According to the Governor’s press office, he left Lynn

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-34491940068123818922010-07-31T18:47:00.000-07:002010-10-20T23:16:07.793-07:00PCC (Peninsula Cities Consortium)

The Peninsula Cities Consortium (PCC). Six Peninsula cities - Burlingame, Belmont, Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton and Brisbane (new 10/10) - joined forces to share resources and ideas for protecting their respective city's interests as they pertain to HSR. They also hoped a collective voice would have more impact than that from individual cities. Some other cities have chosen not to join as

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-62260894829009517272010-07-18T18:13:00.000-07:002010-07-18T18:14:44.659-07:00Stations

TransBay Terminal in San Francisco. See a link here.

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-35966866285036747242010-07-02T15:16:00.000-07:002010-08-04T14:02:27.099-07:00HSR Pro or Con?

PRO.HSRA Board Member Rod Diridon on HSR. See this July 9, 2010 Vimeo interview.CALPIRG Executive Summary of June 29, 2010. Read the summary here. View America 2050 Director Petra Todorovich's presentation on the benefits of high-speed rail to regional economies and where high-speed rail works best here. The presentation was given at the conference of the U.S. High-Speed Rail Association in

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-54323261510395095192010-06-26T18:10:00.000-07:002010-06-26T18:28:06.704-07:00HSR History

1996-2004. High Speed Rail...so far, an exercise in Power and Money. A series in Eldorado Magazine by Richard Trainor: "Paradise Lost? — Internet Series -part seven". As you read this you might want to hold on to your wallets. This is "rich"! For the complete series, beginning in March 2009, click here.1996-Present. Don't RailRoad Us group of Burlingame gives a historical rundown on their

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-45066069275031363422010-06-15T12:15:00.000-07:002010-07-14T16:28:50.133-07:00Pacheco vs. Altamont Pass Route

Why was the once favored Altamont Pass Route suddenly changed to the Pacheco Pass route? Justification is provided by the HSRA authority on their website here.But many still question this decision. Among those are the California Rail Foundation (CRF), the Planning and Conservation League (PCL) and TRANSDEF that have challenged this decision in a lawsuit. This article written for the Sacramento

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-26129093947871511572010-05-19T10:10:00.000-07:002011-07-24T15:53:41.413-07:00The November 2008 Prop 1a Ballot

The Ballot. In the wake of June 2008's high water mark for gas prices, November's Proposition 1a passed state wide 52/48%. If you relied solely on information provided at the ballot, you might have missed a lot. Here is the complete ballot summary.The opening statement:"To provide Californians a safe, convenient, affordable, and reliable alternative to driving and high gas prices; to provide

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-9268803697479025472010-05-19T08:54:00.000-07:002011-12-01T21:19:58.145-08:00HSR and the Environment

The "Green" Argument. Pro. What you read at the ballot; "...while reducing air pollution, global warming greenhouse gases, and our dependence on foreign oil..."High Speed Rail Authority board member Quentin Kopp; "The proposed route of the system intersects with many of the state's best location for wind, solar and geothermal facilities. High-speed trains will help California meet the goals set

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-81888312628471396682010-05-14T18:24:00.000-07:002010-07-14T09:35:46.695-07:00

Construction. Some images from China. This is only 2-track without the need for shoofly tracks needed to keep an existing rail, such as Caltrain, operable.Siemens wants to build the train cars and has been advertising heavily for the right to do so. They even bought an extra twenty acres in Sacramento with the intention of building a new plant for manufacturing the HSR trains.

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-34566112934887422372010-04-28T17:53:00.000-07:002010-06-08T14:27:27.363-07:00Timeline

Timeline for the HSR Project. The timeline can be viewed in the Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) Toolkit on the HSRA site. See this link for the timeline. Further understanding of the purpose of the CSS toolkit can be found elsewhere on this site along with other public input opportunities. See the side bar for Public Input - to High Speed Rail Authority. Note the timeline as it gives you an

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-49122332571598196152010-04-27T01:22:00.000-07:002010-05-21T13:12:25.833-07:00Sound of HSR

HSR Sound Levels. Video of the French TGV.Train speeds on the Caltrain corridor will be 125mph for HSR and 110mph for Caltrain. The graph at right above can be found in this 1996 study. As aerodynamics and technology of design (such as slab track versus ballast track) are improved, the sound levels will only come down, but should remain a significant concern in the design process. Sound walls on

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-39762272127234789652010-04-25T13:01:00.000-07:002010-11-17T10:56:15.000-08:00What Could it Look Like

Story Poles. The City of Burlingame, in an effort to show people what the scale might blook like, erected story poles near the Caltrain station. The 30' wide orange netting represents the cross-sectional thickness (not the full width of 79' (straightaways) -126' (Caltrain-only stations)) of the deck the trains will ride on. This representation does not include the expected 3-12' sound walls,

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-20599851404127678902010-04-24T13:02:00.001-07:002010-10-17T13:48:56.888-07:00Caltrain, Union Pacific, and HSR

Caltrain is broke, declaring electrification is the answer for turning a profit. Simply put, electrification will allow trains to run faster, thus increasing capacity, plus electric trains are cheaper to maintain and operate. Just where the money to make the needed upgrades will come from remains a mystery, but it is clear that Caltrain sees HSR as a funding mechanism, assuming HSR has funding.

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-81955733080390738452010-04-22T23:52:00.000-07:002011-07-28T10:20:42.988-07:00Ridership

July 26, 2011. HSRA breaking the law (yet again) by not responding to Freedom of Information Act requests. CAARD has repeatedly - ten times, in fact, between March 22, 2011 and July 26, 2011 - requested documents backing the ridership study without a document being produced by the HSRA. Authority’s Deputy Director, Jeff Barker said, “There are no documents; we are busy; any documents are draft

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-83886664613638995202010-04-22T11:19:00.000-07:002011-11-01T13:22:57.357-07:00The Business Plan

The Business Plan.General Library of business plans, appendices, summaries, etc.on HSRA site.2009 Business Plan December 2009 (142 pages)Legislative Analyst Office's (LAO) Report on the 2009 Business Plan Jan 2010 (9 pages)Addendum to the 2009 Business Plan April 2010 in response to LAO Report(45 pages) April 15, 2010 Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcomittee Hearing on HSR with Senators Joe

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-49126290848093228422010-04-14T22:45:00.000-07:002010-11-15T17:09:21.568-08:00Video

Legislative Hearings. View live and archived videos of legislative hearings on High Speed Rail on The California Channel.November 4, 2010 Senate Transportation & Housing Committee meeting.HSRA Meetings. Archived video of the April 8th release of the Alternatives Analysis in five parts, and more on the HSRA website under "Board" tab.Burlingame City Council. After you select the video you want to

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-3732642624476014352010-04-12T09:57:00.000-07:002010-11-19T17:38:09.095-08:00Public Input - to Legislators

Contact your politicians and potential politicians. It only takes a few minutes to follow up with each of these once you click on the individual's website. Call or e-mail (form letter below) or write or contact facebook pages for various politicians. If you call, be sure they take your full name and address. When using some politician's sites to e-mail, you will be asked to chose whether you '

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-75303390453761098322010-04-08T19:01:00.000-07:002010-06-08T14:31:24.610-07:00Public Input - to High Speed Rail Authority

There are three (3) separate, remaining important ways in which you should be submitting public comment on the high speed rail project. Always make copies and retain proof of delivery.1. The Peninsula Alternatives Analysis (AA) was released by the HSRA April 8. While we're really no closer to knowing where we stand than we were before the AA was released, the good news is the alternatives remain

HSR-PREPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135035744570708308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691209552233576872.post-79504312934467522012010-03-23T11:10:00.000-07:002010-10-31T15:18:18.651-07:00Eminent Domain

HSR Moving Ahead. Property take proceedings began in Gilroy with the first step being the "Notice of Entry" and the accompanying booklet. "The Authority would aim not to have to employ the eminent domain tool, and would prefer to fairly negotiate with property owners." - Jeff Barker (HSRA). In case you didn't know, Gilroy is part of the Peninsula section. The Peninsula buildout is one of the

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