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Re: Amtrak - Desert Wind demise and resurrection via Palmdale, yes....
Author: BOB2
Date: 08-25-2016 - 18:25
It's likely the composite AADT (annual average daily traffic) count both directions at the State line, not too bad for a two lane road, 24/7 two lane rural interstate, But this is not peak or weekend "average", this includes a lot of 2 am in February counts, too....
This traffic number is the average daily total, it is not an indicator of the six and seven hour weekend driving trip times, that can normally occur during those peak demand periods or from any serious incident, which this story seem to omit, and which was my last experience from Vegas to LA on a Sunday afternoon. And, since when has an airline flight to anywhere only "an hour away" been less than two or three hours total, with things like security waits...?
HSR Rail service via Palmdale actually gets you directly into LA and can be done potentially under 4.5 hours, even using the current Metrolink tracks. The High speed segment via the High Desert Corridor, and Victorville to Vegas using modest and affordable 250 kph technology from Palmdale to Las Vegas gets you there in 2 hours and 25 minutes (less than the best 1960's schedule from LA to San Diego....).
If Palmdale to Las Vegas were eventually to tie into an LA-Palmdale HSR segment that cut time to LA down to one hour or less, that would be a 3 hour and 20 minute trip from LAUPT to Las Vegas....making this corridor very competitive with both highway and some air, based on European type gravity models of similar sized market pairs.
The Palmdale/Victorville/Vegas high speed segment can all be built without major ROW or urban construction costs, and represents a very good travel time alternative, which would be then very competitive with highway times, from LA to Las Vegas....
So it's really too bad our well known "domestic" "high speed" rail manufacturing base has stymied any realistic opportunity for true private foreign capital investment in this proposal, with foolish protectionist "buy America" provisions, Congress has attached to any loan guarantees.....
We talk a good show in America about "public private partnerships" and attracting foreign investment in our infrastructure. But, the reality is that most of our politicians remain the best friends of the contractor change order racket when it comes to large public works, regardless of so-called ideology or party affiliation....
It's always interesting to hear the nattering nabobs of negativism knock and negate these new and novel notions, but my best professional opinion is that the LA LV corridor actually represents the most economically viable, cost effective, reasonable, and realistic HSR proposal outside of the Florida project.... Unlike the fiasco underway at the CA HSRA, sometimes doing "less", better and cheaper, really is more.....bang for your buck.
This traffic number is the average daily total, it is not an indicator of the six and seven hour weekend driving trip times, that can normally occur during those peak demand periods or from any serious incident, which this story seem to omit, and which was my last experience from Vegas to LA on a Sunday afternoon. And, since when has an airline flight to anywhere only "an hour away" been less than two or three hours total, with things like security waits...?
HSR Rail service via Palmdale actually gets you directly into LA and can be done potentially under 4.5 hours, even using the current Metrolink tracks. The High speed segment via the High Desert Corridor, and Victorville to Vegas using modest and affordable 250 kph technology from Palmdale to Las Vegas gets you there in 2 hours and 25 minutes (less than the best 1960's schedule from LA to San Diego....).
If Palmdale to Las Vegas were eventually to tie into an LA-Palmdale HSR segment that cut time to LA down to one hour or less, that would be a 3 hour and 20 minute trip from LAUPT to Las Vegas....making this corridor very competitive with both highway and some air, based on European type gravity models of similar sized market pairs.
The Palmdale/Victorville/Vegas high speed segment can all be built without major ROW or urban construction costs, and represents a very good travel time alternative, which would be then very competitive with highway times, from LA to Las Vegas....
So it's really too bad our well known "domestic" "high speed" rail manufacturing base has stymied any realistic opportunity for true private foreign capital investment in this proposal, with foolish protectionist "buy America" provisions, Congress has attached to any loan guarantees.....
We talk a good show in America about "public private partnerships" and attracting foreign investment in our infrastructure. But, the reality is that most of our politicians remain the best friends of the contractor change order racket when it comes to large public works, regardless of so-called ideology or party affiliation....
It's always interesting to hear the nattering nabobs of negativism knock and negate these new and novel notions, but my best professional opinion is that the LA LV corridor actually represents the most economically viable, cost effective, reasonable, and realistic HSR proposal outside of the Florida project.... Unlike the fiasco underway at the CA HSRA, sometimes doing "less", better and cheaper, really is more.....bang for your buck.
