mook ---
Thanks for the interesting reply. However:!!
What I wonder is: Isn't it much more important
to first build more power plants to provide enough
electric power for homes for us ordinary people,
so that we will never have any need for rolling
power outages? Shouldn't that come first, way
ahead of any plans for a fancy new high-speed
train? And ditto for Caltrain's unnecessary
electrification?

What Caltrain really need is many more employees
and locomotives and cars, so they can carry more
passengers and run trains even more frequently.
It does not need to run on electricity to do that.
Now -- if you were talking about Caltrain trying
to do its part to limit CO2, then -- and only then --
is electrification needed.

We do NOT need HSR in California. And the fact
that the powers that be -- and many ordinary people --
are pushing for this, and NOT for providing plenty of
excellent transportation options for ordinary people is
sad. It is putting the "needs" of the wealthy far ahead
of the real needs of the ordinary people. I know -- it was
ever thus, but that is no reason to stop trying to male life
much better for us ordinary people.

There are no good sites left for dams. None. Please read
"Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water",
by Marc Reisner (in 1986!), if you already haven't, for an excellent '
explanation about water in the US West -- including why there
are no good sites for dams. This is a fascinating and very informative
and very well-written book.

Mandatory RR content: When -- not if, but when -- California
runs out of water, its economy will collapse, and the railroads that
serve this beautiful state will also be in a world of hurt, because
California is such a huge market, and the site of two big port areas --
Oakland and Los Angeles. No water = no economy. No economy =
no need for railroads.
.
And since California also supplies a huge amount of the food that
is eaten in the US, many other people -- yes, I am including you,
California-haters, too! -- will also be hurting. You, too, need food to
eat -- much of which comes from this beautiful state, some of whose
people you hate. And shouldn't.

California is the 8th biggest economy in the world, and because this
modern world is greatly interconnected financially, when California
sneezes, Europe or Asia gets a cold. You do not have to like that
set-up, but it is here and is not going away Heck, did you know that
Los Angeles county has the 20th biggest economy in the world?
Yup -- bigger than that of many nations!

So, California-haters, please stop hating us. When we fall, we will not
be able to keep from taking a huge number of people with us -- you
included. I will grieve when that happens,to you haters, as well as for
everyone else.

I do not like this interconnection (aka "globalization") at all, as it makes
us far too vulnerable to disasters, both natural and human-caused. But it is
what it is, and I cannot change it.