CAHSR Phase 1 Road Trip - Bakersfield, Hanford, Fresno, Madera, Merced - California High Speed Rail
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- čas přidán 23. 06. 2024
- Hitting the road to check out California High Speed Rail construction from a person-eye view, which you likely haven't seen before. 500 miles from Anaheim to San Francisco by road, catching the CAHSR route everywhere I could in 2 days.
In this episode, it's over 170 miles of investigating what's going on with construction and plans for the Central Valley. Grab the cooler, a 12-pack of Cokes, and some snacks because we're taking a road trip, baby! We'll stop by the station sites and check out all the biggest and baddest structures in various states of completion. Everything from the obscure to the infamous.
And that's not all! One other video is in the can and there's one more to go after this one: Anaheim to Bakersfield and Central Valley to Silicon Valley into San Francisco, respectively. Check out the Anaheim - Bakersfield video if you haven't seen it.
There are a lot of interesting things to see in the big, beautiful state of California, train-wise and other wise, so throw a couple of changes of clothes in a backpack and jump in the passenger seat!
links:
CAHSR Road Trip Anaheim -Bakersfield:
• CAHSR Road Trip - Anah...
CAHSR: Park & Ride Nightmare
• California High Speed ...
Making Downtown Bakersfield
www.bakersfieldcity.us/286/Ma...
Bakersfield Flythrough Video
• Fly through animation ...
Fresno Downtown Revitalization www.fresno.gov/economicdevelo...
Music by: Silent Partner
If you like the content and like talking about it, check out the Lucid Group Discord Server: / discord
Chapters:
0:00 Hey, it's Your Old Pal Lucid Stew Again
0:15 Central Valley Overview
0:51 Bakersfield(Bakersfield Station)
2:37 Bakersfield to Shafter
3:34 Shafter and Wasco(Wasco Viaduct)
5:54 SR43N to Corcoran(Deer Creek Viaduct)
7:33 Corcoran(Tule River Viaduct)
8:41 Corcoran to Hanford
10:25 Hanford(Hanford Viaduct|Kings/Tulare Station)
14:14 Hanford to Fresno(Conejo Viaduct)
16:04 Fresno(Cedar Viaduct/Fresno Station)
21:39 Fresno to Madera(San Joaquin River Viaduct)
22:37 Madera(Madera Station/Fresno River Viaduct)
23:38 Madera to Merced
24:32 Merced(Merced Station)
26:51 Up Next and Thanks
27:14 See You On That Big, Beautiful Freeway!
Topics:
CAHSR
California High Speed Rail
Phase 1
Central Valley
Bakersfield
Merced
Hanford
Madera
Fresno
Kings/Tulare
Kern River
State Route 99
Shafter
BNSF
Burlington Northern Santa Fe
UP
Union Pacific
CRISI grant
Merced Ave.
State Route 43
Wasco
Wasco Viaduct
Poso Ave.
State Route 46
McCombs Rd.
Poso Creek
Allensworth
Swallows
Deer Creek Viaduct
Tulare Lake
Tule River Viaduct
Alpaugh
Corcoran
Lemoore
State Route 137
Kansas Ave.
Kent Ave.
Jackson Ave.
Idaho Ave.
State Route 198
Hanford Viaduct
Visalia
Tulare
Cross Valley Connector
Amtrak
San Joaquins
Canejo Viaduct
South Ave.
Cedar Viaduct
The Office
Michael Scott
Chinatown
Tuolumne Ave.
Fulton St.
Fresno Trench
Southern Pacific
Golden State Blvd.
San Francisco
San Joaquin River Viaduct
Ave. 12
tagging
Fresno River Viaduct
Guideway
State Route 152
Chowchilla
State Route 233
La Grand Ave.
In N Out Burger
Greyhound Bus
Lexus
The Brady Bunch
Altamont Corridor Express - Věda a technologie
A reminder that Bakersfield sued HSRA to have more control over the alignment, so direct all hate mail to City Hall.
I think the current city council would've been fine with the former alignment. Our previous council was a literal nightmare blunt rotation.
In many ways I think that california high speed rail is a symbol of everything positive and everything negative about 21st century transit projects in the USA. And despite all the massive issues I still can't help but be very hopeful for the project, and hopeful for phase 1 as a whole from SF to LA. It was really cool to see the sheer scale of work being done in this video, thanks so much for this unique experience.
As long as California funds it, it can be built.
@@onetwothreeabc I would not be opposed to more Biden bucks like we got from the Infrastructure bill hah
@@mattoniomaximus9765 the primary reason i have for voting for biden, besides stopping trump, is for the possibility of cahsr getting a few more crumbs from the admin
@@mattoniomaximus9765 That’s gone already. Cal HSR has already got billions. No more this round.
@@onetwothreeabc Because California has plenty of extra money.
I think the biggest benefit of the initial operating segment won’t be for people traveling from one part of the valley to another, but rather as an efficient way to get from Fresno and Bakersfield to the waiting ACE and San Joaquins trains in Merced that can take them to the rest of Northern California.
As mentioned in the video, the local Hanford-Fresno or Madera-Fresno connections won’t really be an local route upgrade, but rather a continuation of the level of local service currently run by San Joaquins trains (which will terminate in Merced rather than Bakersfield once CAHSR starts running). Of course, for longer trips involving ACE and San Joaquins transfers the value starts to come back for locals since it can take them further without driving.
I also expect a fair bit of showing off to lawmakers in an effort to get funding for the rest since the entire Central Valley section in progress so far is being built to 250 mph design and 220 mph operational standards. Most Americans really haven’t experienced that kind of ground speed unless they traveled abroad to China. Not even trains in Europe run that fast.
Japan shows that cross-platform transfers between HSR and conventional rail can be very effective. The question is whether or not San Joaquins and ACE can provide the necessary frequency.
Ridership is going to be so low though. Yeah fast is great and all, but people won't care because its going to be less convenient to travel by rail to these cities when you don't have your car with you at your destination.
shouldn’t ACE or the San Joaquins run on the high speed line too if they aren’t running that much high speed trains? I heard the frequencies and timings are like 1-2 an hour, would be helpful to use those empty segments for regular intercity trains like they do in Belgium with their HSL to Netherlands.
@@TheRandCrews The platform heights are different.
@@TheRandCrews Funny that you mention that because that’s kind of the plan. The California High Speed Rail Authority is only planning on becoming a HSR operator once they have connected the Central Valley to San Francisco. The initial service from Bakersfield to Merced is going to be fully high speed with the new tracks and trains, but the interim operator is going to be the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority which is the operator of today’s San Joaquins service.
As a result, the Merced cross-platform transfer will be SJJPA to SJJPA. The Madera station location in the video that seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere actually isn’t a CAHSR Authority-led proposal even though it’s on the CAHSR line. That Madera station is a SJJPA-led project to keep serving its Madera passengers one it switches to temporarily operating CAHSR trains south of Merced.
11:32 the towns around Kings/Tulare are going to regret rejecting an HSR station in their town. The connection to LA and the Bay will be huge for economic growth in the Central Valley cities with HSR stations.
The opposition to HSR is all political. It's all been Republicans who are against it. Nothing new. Republicans in Congress voted against the Interstate Highways in 1954. And it was a REPUBLICAN President who wanted it. He wanted an American autobahn like the one he saw in Germany in 1945. Eisenhower had to wait until the Democrats retook control of Congress in 1956 to get the Interstate Highway bill passed.
I suspect they'll be very enthusiastic about the Cross Valley Corridor once FOMO sets in
When Completed how long will it take to ride from here to SF bay.
APPARENTLY, from what I understand: it was the Union Pacific that resisted against the SUPERIOR Hwy-99 route SO MUCH that the CAHSR just gave up and went with the BNSF route instead.
@@uprailman The HSRA business plan says SF to Kings/Tulare should take 131 minutes. There is no air service from Hanford or Visalia and driving to San Fransisco from either takes at least three hours and twenty minutes and up to five hours. This isn't terribly convenient for daily commuting but it would make business trips from SF/San Jose/LA much more convenient and connect Valley businesses to a whole host of customers as well as business service and consulting providers. I could also see it making the cities in the valley much more attractive to businesses looking to locate back office functions away from the higher cost coastal metro areas.
I used to drive through Fresno on the CA-99 many weekends in a row for work, the reference to the 150% scale and alien race is spot on 😂. That is the exact kind of feeling I got, compared to the freeway structures immediately beneath it, it seems like some ancient race of giants left that thing behind.
Great video! It's so cool that you drove the whole route! As a Fresno native, I appreciate you visiting my old hometown, derelict as it is. I was last there 2 years ago and frankly, it still looks the same as it did in 1979, just so much poorer. The city has great bones as you astutely noticed. I have high hopes for this station as Fresno's last best chance at revitalization, but that train has to get to the Bay Area for that to happen. Otherwise, Fresno and the other Valley cities will remain stagnant and poorer.
OMG comparing Fresno Civic Center to the Aztecs was awesome!! But then you slayed me with the "disappointing, flaccid, dinky, afterthought of an arch" for the San Joaquin River bridge. I agree, that river deserves better. In fact, Fresno has designated that entrance from the river as one of the city's major gateways. The least they could have done was ask for a "gateway" design. Flaccid just seems appropriate. Did I see a pedestrian on the freeway at the San Joaquin River? Of course there was. It's Fresno.
I never understood the need for a Madera station. I don't think it was originally going to have one. It's only 12 miles from north Fresno. Madera doesn't even have a hospital anymore. That is just an indication of how bad the economic situation is in the Central Valley. Hospitals struggle to stay open. Downtown Fresno lost it's last CVS and Walgreen's a little over a year ago. These used to be vibrant middle class cities with neighborhoods that looked like they were right out "Leave It To Beaver". It's just sad what's happened to those cities, even as California's economy exploded.
As for those drivers who almost caused an accident, Bakersfield is #11 most dangerous city for driving and Fresno is #25 (LA ranks #31 for comparison) according to a US News & World Report study in 2023. The "Dangerous by Design" 2024 report by Smart Growth America ranks Bakersfield as the 4th most dangerous city for pedestrians in the US. Fresno ranks 7th. By comparison, LA is #30 (but Riverside/San Berdo is #12).
Where the project in Fresno is located downtown gives outsiders the wrong impression of Fresno. The Fresno population has been going north for the last 100 years. The area north of Herndon Ave. looks the exact opposite of downtown. The fact that north of Herndon Ave. is a different school district has a lot to do with this.
@@dfirth224 yes the city has been constantly moving north, and in doing so has let the rest of the city decline. Fresno has become a city of two faces on either side of it's Mason-Dixon line; one rich and green north of Herndon and the other poor and dry south of Herndon (especially south of Shaw), smooth streets north of Herndon and rutted gutted out streets south of Herndon, clean neighborhoods north of Herndon and a trash filled city full of empty lots and shuttered businesses south of Herndon. Fresno ranks as the nation's 8th dirtiest city for 2023 and it's duly earned.
Downtown Fresno is the right impression for Fresno and is exactly what visitors should see because most of the city looks like downtown. Little spots of hope like the few blocks of the Tower District aren't enough to save it. Most of the people of Fresno live south of Herndon, in areas that look like downtown. Blackstone, Fresno's once proud main street, is an embarrassing, trash-filled, and derelict monument to what Fresno has become.
Thank you for the splendid video. Watching from the Netherlands, I hope that CHSR service from LA to SF will commence before my life ends. (I am 68.) I am particularly excited because I grew up in California. (Dutch, I returned to the fatherland after retiring from teaching at an international school in the UK (31 years!).) Keep up the good work!
Sorry, you do not have a clue!
don't hold your breath.
The fundamental question is will California High-Speed Rail benefit the Central Valley economically over its first 100 years of operation once completed. The rail line will provide millions of Californians fast connections at a dozen stations which is much more efficient that flying between each area. The Central Valley is deficient in reliable airports with Fresno Airport often shut down winter mornings due to Tule Fog. As one of the most economically depressed areas of California what better way is there to make improvements than to provide better transportation
No one is flying between cities on this route. They drive. And they will still drive because it's preferrable to have your car with you at your destination.
The real question is will it ever become operational
Who cares?
Worst case, a lot of Federal money goes to the payroll of Central Valley workers. The real boon would be when Pacheco Pass opens up new bedroom communities of Silicon Valley.
@@bensonr2 there are already over 1 million passengers a year taking the San Joaquins passenger train service operated by Amtrak's fifth-busiest service in California's San Joaquin Valley on six daily round trips on this route. 😀
I'm a first time viewer - thank you for taking the time to drive the Phase 1 route. I'm a native Californian and spent quite a few decades in sales calling on offices in all the towns you've mentioned. Each one has it's own unique character and history - it's nice that you noticed the positive along with the challenges. It sounds like politics, rather than logic, influenced where some of the stations are going to be located. Or, with budget constraints, it may have been cheaper to bulldoze farmland than prepare a more logical location. I hope that they continue to build out the entire line so that we might actually have long-range public transportation system.
Nice to see what's happening out there without having to drive it myself. Thanks!
I wonder if this HSR will have a mascot, somewhat like what Japan does. I propose the mascot be a bowl of stew
A skunk? I kid...
USA is great at mascots 😂 especially with sports
@@p.ipebomb a market research firm should find out which mascot is most appealing, although a cat is certainly an appealing option (and it would probably be wise to get concept drawings from Japanese artists, as they really know their stuff).
Yellow-billed magpie. One of California's two endemic birds. Common in the central valley.
Calling out the Fresno slackers 😂😂😂
I was disappointed by the lack of the fire hose technique to spray the upper reaches...
This CAHSR progress is exactly why I was so happy to see the success of the Brightline project in Florida. Because the success of that project would help with the Brightline West project between Vegas and LA, which would then lead into the CAHSR lines
As someone who lives in the Central Valley, I will use high speed rail a lot once it is extended outside the valley. Soooo probably not for a while
Yeah, that I could see. The drive from Fresno to San Jose wasn't that bad, but its not exactly short. San Jose to S.F. was a bear. Bakersfield to L.A. generally sucks, although I do like the part through the mountains. Either way, a good alternative on a drive like that would be nice. S.F. is about 20-25 years off for CAHSR, as far as I've figured, unless $25 billion shows up from the federal government in the next 5-6 years. L.A. is in doubt, in my opinion, unless you make that $50 billion instead of 25.
Great video! It's a shame it's taking it's time but gotta have hope it will eventually be finished
It'll never be done. $2T by 2070.
Major projects like this take 20 years. It took 20 years to build the Interstate Highway system, starting in 1957. The "Big Dig" in Boston took 20 years.
I honesty hope it never gets finished. Just another project to bulldoze and level yet another lage swath of my home here in Merced just as 99 did in the 60s. Merced Station is going set to wipe out multiple blocks This thing is an expensive disaster that should have never been made. All we needed was to give Amtrak its own line so it doesnt have to stop for all the freight. That alone would massivly cut travel time. I hope this blight is never complete.
@@hyper6500 You realize that giving Amtrak its own dedicated line would share most of the costs of the HSR tracks, right? They'd still have to aquire land, build crossings and overpasses, and negotiate with the freight railroads. And what makes you think people would choose Amtrak over flying? Amtrak is multiple times more expensive than flying, and it would still take most of a full day to make the full trip from LA to SF.
@@appleintosh not really, amtrak on the east cost traveling the same distance nonstop is a couple hrs vs 6+ for current Amtrak. The only reason ots slow is because it has to share track with Freight and stop for freight. If it could run non stop at the east cost speeds of 100-150mph it would be fine. This is just an overly expensive project being made for no other reason than they can. Its garbage that when complete will likely have very expensive ticket prices to make up for it's never ending rising cost. The ticket will probably be more expensive than any Amtrak ticket. HSR to be truly successful needs more than just a fast line to be used over other options. The reason HSR works in almost every other country its because theres more to the HSR than the train alone. You need smaller lines feeding it like light rail and subways, ample public transportation and more. In Japan you can ride the shinkansen to you destination and take other smaller transit lines/public transit to your destination without ever needing your own car all using the same rail pass you used to ride the HSR. CA HSR is just an expensive, over budget fubared project made because politicians want something shiny.
I lived in Hanford, CA for over 12 years. Love the whole area.
speaking of not doing much walking in fresno, I walked pretty much every segment shown in video here within the fresno city limits in the september heat 😂
lots of sunscreen and water were required
Best to not do too much outside mid-summer in inland California between noon and 6pm if you can avoid it.
@@LucidStew yeah I probably won’t be doing doing it again. got some great photos of the cedar viaduct out of it though
Always love a good Brady Bunch special trip to Hawaii where they just happen to find a secret cave with a haunted idol reference. 70s TV writing was insane.
Oh, and thanks for the insightful video as always!
As a structural engineer, I find CASHRs choice of structures endlessly baffling. Perhaps it’s just embedded ways of working, but so many of these long viaducts could have been post tension precast concrete segmental. Instead they have an army of rodbusters hand placing rebar in-situ. Just seems insanely backwards.
You're welcome. In regard to the last part, jobs? The politicians that support these types of projects genuinely see them as jobs projects as much as transportation. Although, let me edit that. On second thought this doesn't make much sense unless the Authority is pressuring contractors to use unnecessary human labor and I have no evidence of that.
@@LucidStew it's worth remembering that these first four CPs were bid-design-build, meaning the contractor selected then designed the structures and charged CHSRA whatever that cost. Going forward, CHSRA will design everything in-house then bid that out to contractors, which hopefully should reduce costs as well as the number of change orders, and they've acknowledged that's what they should have done from the start.
Lessons learned here such as those will be applied both toward CAHSR going forward as well as other US HSR projects, which very likely would have been the case regardless of wherever the first US HSR project began.
Honestly Stew, I liked what was shown; it should be useful against all the anti-HSR websites on CZcams? I'm one of the few that's majorly impressed with what has been completed thus far. However, I think that more still needs to be completed. The HSR Board hasn't been very good at instructing the work crews to completing the projects. Honestly, I think they need to hire a few more work crews to complete the guideway. The project is moving along, but it still needs the Biden Administration to pony up enough operating capital so that the initial operating segment can be finished in 2033; me being generous?
Also, I'm awaiting how HSR plans on connecting the Bay Area and Los Angeles as well as the Sacramento and San Diego segments?
It is a huge undertaking. I got a profound sense of that before I even reached the Central Valley. Driving through Antelope Valley it struck me that this is A LOT. It proposes to go a VERY long way. What I got out of the trip was what I hoped to get out of it: bringing the perspective down to a human scale. And, like the car next the Cedar Viaduct and all the silly imagery I used there, the true, gargantuan scale of the proposition became more apparent. I agree. What they've done is impressive. But, also, the idea that this was going to be built in 15 years for $35 billion now seems quite silly. And the inflation of the budget to the stratosphere seems ever more realistic.
@@LucidStew There will be no inflation 2025
I recall the people of California voted for this in 2008, so help me understand why this means the Biden administration needs to pay for it. California voted for it, let California pay for it.
@@mattc3696 Not everything that was voted for could be covered by only California. It was assumed that some of the assistance would come from Congress as the CA HSR was considered an infrastructure project on par with what was happening on the Northeast Corridor.
Are you now saying that the Federal Government shouldn't have to pay for projects outside of the Northeast Corridor?
@@user-iu8lf6tj9w Seems presumptuous to expect outside assistance for a completely in state project. The NW corridor serves multiple states.
I can't wait to see these trains speed across the countryside. Something we as Americans deserves to have in our vast country.
Great video and good field work. I wish the high speed rail had done a Sacramento to Bakersfield route first. Sacramento is the state capital, and would have been a great starting point for service. They even could have opened it in smaller phases, for example, Sacramento to Stockton, than extend to Modesto, Merced, and so on. That is how Japan and France built their first lines, anyways.
I mean, technically its still possible, but unless there is a massive federal windfall, the Authority desperately needs to borrow on any future earnings it can demonstrate, and Bakersfield-SF is supposedly the first part that can turn a profit.
What's this project comes online the areas next to the station's need to be rezoned into high density commercial centers. Madera and Kings/Tulare are especially sad. Parking lots can remain since they're a necessity but the farmland surrounding the lots need ro be replaced with massive hotels, offices and housing towers. UC Merced should house a campus next to the Merced Station to increase ridership.
Fun Fact: Golden State Blvd. was the original CA 99. I believe there's the same street/situation in Bakersfield, and there definitely is in Turlock. In Modesto, it was what is now 9th street.
I'm 74 years old. I remember when 9th St. in Modesto was US 99. Going through downtown Turlock was the worst, you'd hit a red light at every corner. Golden State Blvd. in cities up and down the valley was old U.S. Highway 99. The Main St. of the West Coast. US 99 carried more traffic, especially trucks, than 101 did. The reason 99 was not converted to I-5 between Bakersfield and Stockton is the California Aqueduct. Both were built at the same time. The dirt removed from the aqueduct was used to build I-5.
At the AMF Bowling alley has the best "fish n chips"
This is some high-quality CAHSR content. Thank you Mr. Stew.
good morning,Enjoyed. top masterpiece!🙂
I can't believe that they started making it last I hard it was canceled or it was still in planning thanks for the update 😊
Really great overview of the work that's been done and the amount of structure that has been put in place.
I will most likely be a middle-aged man by the time this project, initially approved by voters several years before I was old enough to vote for it, is operational, but god damn if I'm not still rooting for it.
ive never been to Merced but to me it looks like a town that would be equally at home in Texas or Oklahoma
That's what all of the middle of California looks like! The only real difference is the ethnic diversity and how much closer together the towns are, here in CA. We are a MASSIVE farming and military industrial complex state, in addition to everything else we have.
I always say Texas and California ARE rival states, but SIBLING rivals. Both huge, diverse, economically and politically powerful, former Mexican states with a lot of American emigrants that rebelled from Mexico, joined the Union around the same time, were part of the Wild West, blessed with fertile agricultural land, oil money (Cali just hides its wells better), and massive contributions to the Military-Industrial Complex. They just ended up on opposite sides of the Civil War and with some *slight* differences in the balance of political power between urban and rural parts of each state, which our First-Past-the-Post voting system lets snowball into what LOOKS like totally opposite politics, when its really like 55-45 for one and 45-55 for the other.
A lot of these communities and towns took in massive migration from Oklahoma and Texas after the dust bowl. And these areas are still way more similar to Texas and Oklahoma than the rest of California.
Bakersfield used to be the home of country music stars like Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, for example.
I was walking through Turlock one day and it felt a LOT like Texas. American flags, large but sparse/low houses, american flags everywhere, sidewalks that've seen better days, astonishing flatness, pickup trucks, and all that
EastCal has quite a way to go. Apparently the population of California east of the I-5 is higher than the population to the west, which is crazy to imagine. And much that they're building there's single-family low-density tract housing in the middle of nowhere
Dunno what HSR would do
wow i just looked it up and its here
do you think they will have a non-stop option so it actually takes the advertised time to get from SF to LA?
They’ll have to. You can already see through tracks planned at every station.
Yep, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_High-Speed_Rail#Stations_and_stop_patterns
No. If going from El Lay to SF was the primary motive it would go up the I-5 median. This thing will have more stops than an urban bus. 😂
Supposed to be twice daily, but I wouldn't bet on 2 hour 40 minutes in service.
It doesn’t have dedicated rail in LA, so it will definitely slow overall trip time.
From a Right of Way engineering perspective, this project is insanely massive
If you take Amtrak's San Joaquins from Madera to Bakersfield you pass under the Wasco, Tulare River, and Conejo Viaducts and it travels next to a lot of right of way
"No views" party!
No views as in video views, right?
Connecting Bakersfield to los angles should have been the first priority since there is no train that services this route. Amtrak already serves the central valley and its stops at bakerfield. Rider then takes a bus for the rest of the trip to los angles.
The good: Structures being built. Viaducts over freight are good and necessary. Fresno is definitely going to benefit a lot from CAHSR. Still not worth sacrificing LA for, but San Francisco to Palmdale and then Las Vegas would not be bad.
The bad: Kings/Tulare and Madera stations. CAHSRA should nix them, as they're too close to other necessary stations and driving will probably be faster. Also getting rid of those two stations makes the travel time from Merced to Bakersfield better.
The ugly: the wait for next week. Looking forward to the Merced to San Francisco leg. Hopefully 12,000 subscribers by then.
San Joaquin will be gone after Cal HSR is running. Madera and Kings/Tulare are there to compensate this.
@@onetwothreeabc Madera and Kings/Tulare are regional rail locations at best, they don't belong on a high speed rail line, especially one that is legally required to go from LA to SF in 2 hours 40 minutes. I suppose if the Merced to Bakersfield is that's ever built, they would be just filler stations to make it seem like less of a failure.
@@absolutezeronow7928 There will be a lot of trains passing Madera and Kings/Tulare once Phase I is finished for sure.
But this is a political project. It has to make sure all stakeholders are OK with the plan.
Kings/Tulare is also the transfer station for the transvalley line (proposed). Amtrak will stop their San Joaquin service after the HSR is running.
@@onetwothreeabcNot just for cross valley corridor service, but also thruway bus service to the central coast. Kings/Tulare has more functionality than people give it credit for, and Hanford is also going to start a station-area planning effort before the end of the year.
How is LA being "sacrificed"?
Going in the footsteps of The Four Foot?
12:20 Well, my understanding is that San Joaquins service will be withdrawn south of Merced when CAHSR opens.
If I remember right, it's not planned to end at Merced but at Tulare. It's somewhere in an AmpereBeep video from a while back.
@@kopshi But there is no Tulare San Joaquins station...
That is correct The Amtrak San Joaquins will terminate (from the north) at Merced where there will be a direct transfer available to high speed rail. The ACE train will also be coming in and terminating in Merced. The reason for the termination in Merced is that from there, the high speed rail will be faster, thus it will reduce redundancy as well as get passengers to their destination faster.
SJJPA, who operates the San Joaquins, will be the interim service provider for CAHSR's Central Valley segment when it opens, and remain it at least until CAHSR reaches SF. That could explain the discontinuance of Amtrak rail service south of Merced, since this initial CAHSR route will effectively be an extension of the San Joaquins (and why pay to run two parallel services?).
AFAIK, one of the goals for CAHSR is to reduce diesel emissions, such as from trains, which makes it sound like that arrangement will be permanent even after CAHSR reaches SF and CHSRA resumes operations. If that proves the case, it really brings into question why the new Madera station, which is supposed to be a transfer point between Amtrak and HSR, if Amtrak trains will permanently be discontinued south of Merced in 2030-33. At least the Wasco station will remain active until then, hence the new pedestrian underpass there, as HSR construction and eventual train testing happens.
It also makes me wonder if the San Joaquins will one day be discontinued entirely once CAHSR reaches Sacramento, as ACE could provide local service between Merced and Sacramento, and virtually all of the cities/stations the San Joaquins serve are served by other rail services, either Capitol Corridor or BART, with the exception being getting between Stockton and Antioch/Martinez (and maybe Richmond).
If you're ever down there again, I've heard tell that Superior Dairy in Hanford is an absolutely amazing ice cream place
They should build a mini mall into the station with restaurant space and retail shops.
Hear me out, what if they built a dome around the station and a small city therein?
good job
It's worth noting the Madera HSR station is not being funded or built by CHSRA. That's being done by the City of Madera, Madera County, SJJPA, and I believe a couple other local public entities. The choice of location, AFAIK, had more to do with providing a station for north Fresno neighborhoods than it did for Madera itself, which to be somewhat fair any location along the BNSF tracks is less than ideal for Madera, although Ave 12 seems by far the least ideal.
The station itself is supposed to provide a transfer point between HSR and Amtrak, although getting between them will require walking across a parking lot, and if the discontinuance of Amtrak service south of Merced once HSR begins is to be permanent, then there really is zero point having this new station apart from providing north Fresno a place to board HSR without having to drive into downtown Fresno, even though that seems a relatively minor inconvenience at best.
Thanks for taking us along on your vacation, Stew--and for making it all about CAHSR! The Fresno station is indeed best situated of any of the Central Valley stations, and I hope Fresno takes advantage of that to reimagine their downtown. I was there recently and was--disappointed. It even prompted me to write an article for my local paper about how cars are not the answer to downtown business woes. Note how every spot on Fulton St is occupied, but the vacancy rate is ~50%!
Can't wait for the next leg of the journey!
I'm not entirely convinced transit is the answer either. I think in compact spaces feet are important. Good and safe places to walk to and from. Of course there needs to be a means of getting to and from those places, but I think the starting point is the proper mixture of living, working, and recreating within walking distance.
This will be an awesome project that will be enjoyed by our great, great, great-grandchildren in 200 years.
"A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit."
I've heard tell that the Merced-Bakersfield San Joaquins service will be suspended after the merced-bakersfield segment is completed, which sucks for places which used to have SJ service but now don't
I've heard that people often take the train from Hanford to Fresno so
I am from France where there are a lot of high speed trains, between large centers. Here we may have at some time in the "future" a line between nowhere to nowhere, beautiful. The reason for not starting from LA or San Francisco is very difficult to understand. It look that maybe people will be able to go from LA To San Fransisco by the year 2060 with a good amount of wishes. I will be long gone by then, but I do enjoy the French high speed trains every time I go there including the train to London, no need to wait for this train to have fun.
They are doing work in San Francisco, it's just not quite as visible. Instead of large construction projects like in the Central Valley section, the SF improvements are crossing improvements and electrification of existing rail. The Central Valley section is also the easiest and cheapest to complete, given that the land out there is cheap and the majority of the right of way will be on the surface. The sections extending to SF and LA will both need expensive tunnels to be dug to get out of the valley.
Our governor doesn't like High Speed Rail and has said that multiple times. He is corrupt and sleazy.
Our prior governor Jerry Brown was much better, but Newsom wants to get rid of the High Speed Rail project and thus directed it to focus on a "train to nowhere."
Lots of French high speed stations are in the middle of nowhere too. Like Madera Station or Kings-Tulare level bad. How do y'all deal with it?
@@shreychaudhary4477 I don;t know were you learn geography; but Madera and Kings-tulare are in California, USA not in France. Did you miss elementary school?
@@Christiane069 I mean that there are stations in France that are also in the middle of nowhere.
While here in California, the Kings-Tulare station site is ~5.44 km from the closest town (Hanford)'s center and the Madera station site being ~9.28 km from the closest town (Madera)'s center
but in France you have stations like Meuse and Lorraine, which while closer to the closest village, they're further from good-sized cities. (like how Lorraine is halfway between Metz and Nancy, a good 18km from Metz and 28km from Nancy (this might be what the Kings-tulare station is trying to do with Hanford and Visalia)) For comparison, Hanford has ~58,000 people and Madera has ~67,000 people
but idk if this is a fair comparison because France has a lot more smaller settlements closer together than the California Central Valley
How far south from the Bay Area does then new rail electrification reach? Would it be possible for the high-speed trains from the CAHSR to utilize this electrification to travel to the Bay Area until the CAHSR line reaches that destination? I ask, because I traveled on the Eurostar trains from London to the Channel Tunnel on regular electrified tracks until England's HSR1 was completed at a later date.
That is the plan, it will run along Caltrain tracks from Gilroy to SF to the new Terminal, though meantime at 4th and King with intermediate stops on the way.
San Jose. Essentially CAHSR will run on Caltrain tracks north of San Jose. The main addition for CAHSR is the maintenance facility in Brisbane, which is where they will store the trains for the SJ-SF section.
@@LucidStew but isn't the plan for CAHSR to meet up and share Caltrain tracks beginning at the Gilroy station? What is the plan from Gilroy to San Jose/Diridon, then?
@@rockwellmath The plan is for the CAHSRA to build that. Caltrain doesn't have any money. Caltrain's 2025 Capital Outlay budget is less than what CAHSR spends in a month.
When it was first proposed they said it would be around $100 per ride. Any update on that? I checked and I can fly from SF to LA for $73 today, and be there in 90 minutes.
No, ticket prices are probably the last thing that will be updated. The early business plans indicated they desired 77% of equivalent air fare.
@@LucidStew They also said it would be profitable. At this rate I'm not sure I'll be around for it to be operational. :)
@@Scoots1994 It's actually required that the state not lose money on operations. Their expectation in that ridership will be similar to the NEC, and Amtrak services on the NEC run at an operating profit.
@@LucidStew Is there enough track to have express trains as well as trains that stop at every stop?
@@Scoots1994 Not necessary, most HSL are built with two tracks but every stop is equipped with passing loops (i.e. temporarily four tracks) with platforms on the outer tracks.
As someone who’s been in Fresno for almost all of my life, it’s nice to hear your thoughts about our city as usually videos only talk about the crime or homelessness l within our city. Fresno and quite a bit of the cities in the Central Valley have been ignored for quite a long while, with a lot of focus on the major coastal cities which I find quite sad, though I do love living here as even though we are the 5th largest city in California, we don’t have any modern skyscrapers and only a few historical tall building inland the downtown area which gives an amazing view going all the way to the Mountains!
From what I’ve seen of the redevelopment plan I quite love it, no building with boring modern day architecture and respecting the cities history, it makes me very hopeful for the cities future. Although I’m not sure what to think of the station design, especially since I find different renderings with different designs, but whatever the design is I remain hopeful that the high speed rail project will help Fresno and the rest of the Central Valley prosper once again!
It'd be great for Fresno to bring back a modern form of its streetcar network. There've been a few past proposals that sadly never materialized. Seems like there are a few corridors reaching out from the downtown area that would be great for streetcars, including along Fulton.
As someone not from California, or even the US, but have driven from SF up to Portland and Vancouver, though never the Central Valley it is amazing just how big the state is and how vast and flat the Central Valley is. Watching this you can understand why they decided to start this part, it's so incredibly flat, but it does really need through trains to SF even if not HSR until the rest is built or I can see usage being a problem (and attracting people to move to cities like Merced or Bakersfield. I guess those stations in the middle of nowhere were to get the locals to vote for spending money on the project. When is this section due for completion? They really need to get some trains running between places, even if not particularly high speed for people to start feeling it's moving along, or is it an all of nothing thing?
Revenue service of the initial operating segment in the Central Valley is projected to begin 2030-2033. And I think that was the idea for getting it done first. Once there is a proof of concept, and Californians get their first taste of high speed rail, that would ensure the funding for the remaining connecting segments between SF-LA. And of the two, the SF segment will probably get done first, linking CAHSR to Caltrain should be easily done.
There is really only one "station in the middle of nowhere." And that is the Hanford Station. But that will service not only Hanford, but Visalia and the Lemoore Naval Air Station. It's possible that most CASHR trains won''t stop there.
California really needs high-speed rail asap
I didn’t see any comment about how CAHSR will handle Tulare Lake or the San Andreas fault. Do any public documents show the proposed solutions?
San Andreas the tracks will be above ground. Same for all major faults. Tulare Lake, the right of way is elevated on about 10 foot high berms. Flooding won't be an issue in the mid-term. They could have problems in the longer-term though if the state and local water districts don't get subsidence under control. The big headline idea is that the lake might flood again. Of course that's not out of the realm of possibility, but Success and Terminus dams are both being improved, so that should happen less often in the future. The bigger concern is changes in the track geometry, to which the system will be fairly sensitive since the train is suppose to travel at 220mph through there. They may need to re-level those berms on occasion. I think in the very long-term if problems persist, they may simply do as they have with levees and aqueducts: raise it up.
High speed train to Bakersfield. Wow. Holy cow. I'm overwhelmed.
I've been to Bakersfield probably 30 times in 50 years. The only thing I do when I get there is leave. At least one thing won't change. 😂
"The only thing I do when I get there is leave" ok, that made me laugh.
Found the complaint about bakersfield drivers funny. Last time I went, the only bad driver was the uber we were in who made a left directly in front of somebody going 40
I'm a native Californian, so I'm used to it. It would just be nice to stretch that out to an entire day rather than one intersection. :)
Pipedreams if this construction will be done in the next 10 years!
It's scheduled to be done in 4 years with them 3% behind the current schedule pace.
Awesome video. Waiting on the SF section. It looks like the Central Valley is gearing up to have high speed trains running by 2030, testing by 2028. Service to SF, LA won’t be until another 10 years or so. Also to answer about the Kings Tulare station. It was mainly politics. Visalia and Tulare didn’t want the train running through their cities. Even tho Visalia is the largest city between Fresno and Bakersfield, and is in bad need of transportation. But good thing they are planning the cross corridor which will run from Visalia, Lemoore, & Lindsey.
Don't hold your breath for 2030. There is almost no chance of SF by 2040, definitely not to L.A.
@@LucidStewI have good hopes for 2030 for the Central Valley segment as work has been coming along pretty swift compared to the connector segments to our major regions. All the hard work is being done now which is connecting and building the viaducts, after that all that’s left is laying track and electrifying the route. Going on Amtrak you can see how much is done, from what you can’t see in a vehicle.
@@californiamade5608 12/31/30 is the earliest the schedule affords, they're currently behind schedule, and they have a 9 year track record of not meeting schedules.
@@LucidStewsure but now it is a different story especially with strong support from the current administration. Lawsuits, politics, and acquiring land is what truly delayed it. Now that most of that has been taken care of, the current paste of work and timeframe seems to be much more realistic than it was 8 years ago. Especially with the much more visible work done in recent years.
@@californiamade5608 I realize people like the the narrative that the CAHSR Authority is not at fault, but it doesn't hold up. I suggest reading the state auditor's report from 2018. The Authority was downright incompetent until 2017. Current leadership freely admits that they had to dig out from under a lot of mistakes. As to their current pace, its very slow and they're not keeping to it. The evidence is in the Central Valley reports, published every month. They're struggling to spend the $1.8B budgeted this year, which is putting them behind schedule and will ultimately put them over budget in the mid-term. This after squandering so many years of construction that they no longer have the funds to complete Merced-Bakersfield. While things are better, they're not good.
Ok, I'm keeping quiet, haven't even viewed it but will remain noncom henceforth for these two videos.
😂
Really exciting to see what's been going on with the initial segment of CHSR! Ultimately I do think it was the right decision to build the line through the central valley, connecting smaller communities in between major urban centres is a big positive high speed rail has over plane travel.
I am worried about the phases of this project. It's no secret that the initial operating segment will not attract very high ridership and once open it will incur sizable operating costs. Leaving it mothballed is not an option politically. But the lower passenger numbers, high operating cost, the already high construction cost and the even higher future construction cost for complex tunneling segments are all factors that can be used by bad actors in politics to torpedo the project.
Personally I think the initial operating segment should've went up to Stockton. From there it is much easier to connect the train to the Bay Area and then you would essentially be running an upgraded San Joaquins.
Don't know what to do with the train from there on. Electrification of the stockton subdivision? Pull the HSR set with a diesel loco? eBART extension to the subdivision? Make the whole thing a regular BART extension? Depends on how much cash you can secure within and outside the scope of CHSR. Personally I don't think eBART should've been built in the first place but now that it has perhaps this is some way to justify its existence besides cost cutting and lay the foundations for expanding commuter rail on existing railways in the area
Once done, or even in its current state, you certainly wouldn't mothball it. You have a new, high speed rail corridor to utilize. All passenger traffic through the San Joaquin Valley should be routed onto the new CAHSR row regardless of CAHSR's ultimate fate. Especially the way California is pushing for climate-based initiatives, proliferation of electrified rail corridors in the state is fairly inevitable. The Central Valley spine will then be an asset like any other, even if the high speed portion takes 50 years to make it over the mountains into L.A.
Looking forward to your next installment. Well done so far.
an issue with driving in the Hanford Visalia area is the Tule fog.
Welcome to California, where every train station has to have tons of surface parking instead of mixed use 🙄
I was so surprised by the parking space amounts I made a whole video about it. Some of the station sites are dumb and a lot of parking there is to be expected. The shocking thing really is 3,400 spaces planned at both Merced and Fresno, even though their stations are downtown-adjacent.
@@LucidStew I'm in the SF Bay Area. Since we have the tech now, more people in the Bay Area, and nationwide are working from home. Market street in SF has tons of vacant shop-fronts. It's empty and Oakland is the same way. Not to mention the news telling everyone its unsafe, which in some parts IT IS! So now BART parking lots are not even half full. The workers are at home, they aren't taking BART as much. Newsom has now mandated that workers go into the office at least twice a week (check that number I think its at least two times per week) The world is changing, we have all these empty buildings and A lot of the work is being done from home, so people don't want to live in high priced areas like SF and the rest of the Bay Area. Mayor Breed is trying to "revitalize" parts of San Francisco, but this change in the world economy and "world order" is bigger than her. This high speed rail is either a huge waste of money, or it's part of a bigger plan. Maybe part of the "fifteen minute cities" movement.
@@Mr_Facts I don't think its anything so sinister. This project has its roots in the 90s when no one really could have foreseen massive telecommuting coming. At the time, the population of the state was projected to be over 50 million by 2040 and the project was in response to the assumed need for additional transportation infrastructure. It also recognized that expansion of existing infrastructure to meet that would be very expensive. All these factors considered, and with a $33 billion cost, the project looked promising enough for a bond to be passed for it in 2008. Yes, the world has changed, the cost has now quadrupled, and the population of the state has flatlined. Is it still needed? Is it still a good deal? As to motivation to keep it going... political power cycle. Take in contributions, get elected. Take in tax dollars, distribute it to those that voted for and contributed to your campaign. Those people then contribute again and vote again. Rinse and repeat.
@@LucidStew I kinda see what they mean. Lots of the town is really sprawling and while bus service isn't *terrible* it could be better. My home BART station (Warm Springs/South Fremont) has a lot of new apartment developments next to it but it still has a big parking lot which gets a LOT of use as a park-n'-ride because there's folks from 4, 5 miles away who are driving down instead of taking the once-every-30-minute buses
which, sure, there could be better uses of space. But it attracts a LOT of choice riders. Way more than half of the folks I saw at that station got out in a car
@@shreychaudhary4477 Well, you get this false economy. The theory is people are going to move out to Fresno or Merced to commute into San Jose. So it's good that they're taking the train instead of driving that every day! But no one is really moving out to Merced or Fresno to drive to San Jose every day. In that scenario, what you get instead is them driving from their suburban home to the downtown parking lot, which is probably what they were doing in the bay area(or even worse they were using public transit before). Essentially you're just moving the problem to the Central Valley to the bay's benefit when the supposed "environmental justice" benefit belongs to the Central Valley.
In my opinion, it would be wise to initially buy multi-mode trains that can run away from the overhead wires to serve more destinations and for emergencies.
I don't hear the term "Cyclopean" used much outside of H.P.Lovecraft stories, good job!
Well spotted! Misused here, but I was going more for dramatic flair than accuracy. :D
@@LucidStew I liked it! I can't say I look forward to driving around the construction as it nears my house. Your video cleared up a lot of questions as to the route though, thanks!
I read through a number of comments before deciding to comment. I'm a life long resident of CA. When I take look around at how our state is being run, and all the money lost or wasted and the cost of living climbing so hi that more than half of people are barely surviving. This transportation project is 50 yrs overdue, the politicians should have kept building Bart all the way to LA, but i guess asking for foresight is asking too much, this is what we get with one party rule.
I agree. Bart already has the knowledge and ability to run this. It's all politics and money.
BART is fundamentally different than high speed rail, so it wouldn’t be competitive with flying. Nobody wants another Amtrak, where it takes a day to go 1000 miles and costs $1500.
This, indeed, is what we get with one party rule. We get a high speed rail system that is actually being built, vs. one that would never have been built. And when it is completed, it will stand for a century or more as a signature accomplishment of California Democrats. And I think that is probably noe of the biggest reasons why the haters still hate it.
@@appleintosh I think you missed the point. BART was already being built, they had the $, the will, the tech., and the right people building it. Upgrades could've been done over the decades and it would already be paid for now.
@@rockwellmath I guess you don't know California was a mostly republican run state in the late 60s early 70s when BART was built, the Democrats at best had 50% to do with it. So giving them 100% credit for it is an error.
They're making good progress! Things are starting to really take shape. I would like to have seen pictures of the downtown underpasses though. Are they ready for the railroad to move back from the shoo-fly to the original location?
You can see Fresno St. undercrossing at 17:42 nothing happening there. At 18:07 you can see no right turn at Tulare St. at F St., and at 19:54 road closed at H St. The satellite imagery from 6/9/2024 shows the shoofly still in place.
Haha I love tree swallows
Madera has a station? I live here and did not know that
Yeah, its in a weird spot north of the city in the middle of a subdivision off of Road 26.
Where was this video two days ago when a guy from my old church at my brother's graduation party tried to tell me this will never get built
Well, depending what part you're talking about... of course never is a very long time.
I can’t help but feel like all these structures are much larger than they need to be. Look at high speed rail bridges and crossings in Spain, for example. Much more of a modest size and scale.
Allensworth has an interesting history
I am 70 years old. I wonder if I will live to ever see the HSR in action?
As someone born and raised in Tulare County, I’m very excited for this to finally be operational. The one disappointment that I’ve had with it is when asking County Supervisor Amy Shuklian about if there will be any future rail projects in the county outside of the planned connector project she said there is no talks and any that have been had were shot down or dismissed as unnecessary because they don’t believe anyone would use them.
Given that they're considering half hour headways for both, I'm kind of surprised they plan to anything beyond the express bus
@@LucidStew How come? Is half an hour too good headways for train?
@@shreychaudhary4477 Because express bus service will likely be adequate for the population, and if they wanted to add capacity they could cut headways further, which would work out better from a service standpoint.
I'll taking boring looking bridges n stuff if they can actually get that finished before Australia collides with the west coast.
They can’t do stops in every town or it wouldn’t be highspeed. Thats why we need regular speed rail between regular towns that aren’t city sized.
Yeah I live in Bakersfield when I saw those two cars nearly take you and each other out, I just shook my head and was like yeah that’s normal here. People drive like dickheads here.
Could be worse. It could be southeastern Florida. That's the craziest driving I've witnessed and I've seen plenty in California.
Surface parking lot.... If you are willing to build an elevated HSR station, you can build a multilevel parking structure. And unlike HSR, we have plenty of experience building multistory parking structures, for cheap. Don't mess with the land if you don't have to, please.
Who wants to have their car bake in the sun if they don't have to?
A thought regarding the Kings/Tulare station - perhaps part of the intent is as a rail gateway to the south entrance for Sequoia NP? Granted, that’s a bit of a stretch … just a thought.
that definitely could be one. Amtrak also runs thruway bus service between Hanford and Paso Robles/SLO, which I'm sure will continue with HSR and be a possible way of getting between the Central Coast and Bay Area/NorCal (maybe less so SoCal once HSR reaches LA, since total travel time would likely be close to drive time on 101, which could also be the case for SF).
They run a shuttle service from Visalia to Sequoia NP!
Sub 1 hour. I'll watch tomorrow though 😂.
Any infrastructure project of this size and duration is subject to changes in everything from funding to population changes, not to mention public attitudes towards overpriced and incomplete outcomes.
Fun trip and video. Still wonder if I will live long enough to ride it.....
It's pretty reasonable right now to assume it will be operating in 8-12 years.
The Saudis are planning these futuristic, Megalithic structures like 'Kalbod' and we're so behind, but we have to start somewhere! 😂
The world might laugh at us, but we'll get there California 😼
Wasn't plugged in back when the decisions were made, but I'm struck by the rather curvy alignment of CAHSR. Union Pacific, BNSF, and Hwy 99 are fairly straight through the central valley. Why not hug one of those the entire route?
Also, viaducts through town shouldn't be bare concrete like elevated highways, they should have businesses underneath like some of the rail corridors in Berlin.
South to north, the first deviation is having the Bakersfield station next to UP ROW instead of BNSF. I'm guessing, but pretty that the deviation north of Wasco is to go around Allensworth State Park. Not sure why they are weaving around near Corcoran instead of arcing through as illustrated in the video. After hooking up with the Kings/Tulare station site, they curve back to BNSF. Between Fresno and Madera it hooks between UP and BNSF. Deviation after that is due to the wye. UP most of the way looks pretty doable, and it would be shorter. Dunno for sure why they picked what they did. I'd have to dig into the depths of the EIS docs. Probably still wouldn't know for sure even then.
Two things will happen A. It will be obsolete when completed. B. And the largest Vagrant camp in the country!
We are so behind on high speed rails....
YEAH BAKERSFIELD is right with them drivers. Lived there off and 20+ years since 1996. I pray to god i never have to live there again. Good people bad drivers
Didn't they already pay for one train?
These monstrous concrete scares in our once beautiful California will need replacement once(if) trains ever start running on them due to old age.
SWA SFO/SJC to LA is cheaper and faster. The cost of CAHSR could have flown everyone in the state back and forth many times.
This will never get done 😂
Madera ca in the house
Did you say the station is 60 feet above street level? I hope they put in an elevator or two.
I believe the platforms are technically 56 feet above ground level. Merced and Kings/Tulare will have the same configuration, but a little shorter.
So it’ll take like 20 yrs to complete
Depends which part you're talking about.
I feel like even if right now some of these stations make no sense, it might actually be a positive overall. Kind of the china approch in some ways, built HSR into the middle of nowhere and then suddenly the middle of nowhere got good.
We're talking about Hanford here, not Morro Bay.
@@LucidStew meaning you think it's too big of a shit hole to ever become livable? If so fair enough
@@exerosis5758 I don't feel THAT harshly about Hanford, but I live in inland California, and know what its like. It's never going to be paradise. Sure, you CAN live there, but if we were going to pick middles of nowhere in the state to elevate, I can think of better choices.
How much money goes to the project, and how much goes to replacing stolen equipment!😢
If it is only going from Bakersfield to Merced will it still be high speed rail?
Yes, it will be high speed. Bakersfield to Kings/Tulare is the longest stretch and will be the best shot at more than a few minutes at 220mph.
If the train ever runs I will be shocked.
Great to see the progress. Wish they get trains running by 2028 along with Brightline West. Should run Amtrak dual-mode Airos on intern basis for through one-seat service to Sacramento and Oakland.
They had to remove apartment complexes in Waco to build part of that track
Wasco?
@@shreychaudhary4477 yes
Maybe they were driving like that because you were camping in the left lane
I was in the right lane at a red light and proceeded as soon as it turned. The first person clearly ran the red, and not by a little, either.
there are other issues, aging population moving to central valley, fog in winter dangerous drives,
That Hanford station worries me after watching your video. It seems too big, over-engineered, and they shouldn't have run the train through that town maybe? And there's already an Amtrak line? Weird. Destroying an In and Out seems awful too. Just think how many people will be upset about that :(
#SaveTheMercedInNOut
@@LucidStew Hanford didn't want the HSR going right thru the middle of their town, so that's why it's being built just east of Hanford. Also the HSR will replace the Amtrak service to Hanford.
As for the In-N-Out being removed for HSR, I'm sure the In-N-Out can relocate somewhere nearby... 🙂