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Is HSR a Cargo Cult for California?
Editorial by Noel T. Braymer During and shortly after World War II poor and isolated islanders in the South Pacific believed that with prayers and crude homemade airstrips they could attract planes to land and deliver “cargo”. These people were hoping to get some of the vast material wealth used to fight World War II…
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The States of Ohio and Wisconsin bail out the California High Speed Rail Authority
Editorial by Noel T. Braymer The decisions by the newly elected Governors of Ohio and Wisconsin to pull their states out of the High Speed Rail Stimulus funding program have led to the recent announcement of 624 million dollars of that money will be redirected to California. This was on top of 715 million the state…
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Building HSR on the Installment Plan
Editorial by Noel T. Braymer “An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought”. Simon Cameron US financier & politician (1799 – 1889) Since the midterm elections it is becoming clear that if people thought Washington was partisan, gridlocked and out of touch with what people wanted before the election, then you…
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Bikes and Trains
By Noel T. Braymer A major problem with taking the train is getting to and from the train stations. Ridership for rail service is dependent on the amount of parking since most people drive to the train station. Many train stations have full parking lots. Increasingly more parking structures are being built at stations. But…
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Passenger Trains can be good customers for Freight Railroads
Editorial by Noel T. Braymer The Union Pacific’s recent demand for 750 Million dollars in capital improvements before allowing a daily Sunset really said “go away kid, you bother me”. The UP’s premise was based on the assumed costs to create a railroad that would eliminate conflicts with any late passenger or freight trains with…
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Creating an Oceanside to San Bernardino Corridor
Opinion by Noel T. Braymer Today Metrolink has just one round trip between San Bernardino and Oceanside. Train 803 leaves San Bernardino at 4:55 AM and arrives in Oceanside at 7:15 AM. Transferring passengers miss a Coaster train heading for San Diego which also leaves at 7:15 AM; the next Coaster leaves 28 minutes later.…
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HSR: Fantasy versus Reality
Editorial by Noel T. Braymer The main obstacle to High Speed Rail service in California is not rich NIMBY homeowners or the Union Pacific Railroad. The main obstacle is the consultants being paid by the California High Speed Rail Authority to plan and design the service. There is broad popular support for better passenger rail…
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More Shovel Ready Stimulus Please
Opinion by Noel T. Braymer With mid-term elections coming up the administration is now talking about spending 50 billion dollars for transportation projects in the long delayed transportation bill. The amount of new money going for infrastructure pales compared to the trillions of dollars of deferred maintenance we have in this country. Given the need…
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What AB 32 and Rail Service have in Common
Editorial by Noel T. Braymer AB 32 is a law passed and signed into law in California back in September 27, 2006. Its goal is to reduce the state’s emission of carbon back to 1990 levels by 2020. This law has broad bi-partisan support. Environmentalists support the law because it would clean the air and…
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Who will build this train?
Interesting Quote from the June issue of Railway Age Magazine article “Who will build this train?” …Realistically, observers and supporters say, at least $50 billion in guaranteed federal HSR funding is needed to attract state dollars and private investment. The Obama Administration’s financial commitment is, again, a start, and there’s momentum in Congress to expand…