Wow, are you sure you're not on the payroll of the CHSRA or one of their PR contractors? If so, you're good.... But, of course, if that was the case, you'd be using taxpayer funds to respond to me......?

No Clem, I'll just have to let my comments on LOSSAN and the needs and opportunities for cost competitive and cost effective rail passenger service stand upon on their own merits. LOSSAN planning and improvements have been based on observed travel demands and deficiencies, prior to identifying and prioritizing the most cost effective improvements, unlike any of the planning of the CHSRA fiasco. So I like to use it, as it is something people can relate to, in order to compare and contrast with the utterly incompetent and self serving planning done for the CHSRA fiasco. Which seems to put some kind of a burr under your saddle, so I must be asking the right questions.

Yes, most of these assumptions used by CHSRA are and have been based upon dubious methodologies, pure conjecture, wishful thinking, and cannot answer the detailed questions I asked. It is mostly a collection of expensive justifications, supported by little research and less data. And, these so-called "business plans" (there have been several so far) have been best characterized by many, other than myself, as nothing less than prime quality CHSRA self serving bovine excrement.

In your world, by your editorial response, it appears that your thesis is that I'm obviously an irresponsible critic, who doesn't do his homework and doesn't know what he's talking about, and who clearly doesn't understand that the CHSRA has done wonderful work, of the highest professional standard, right?

The CHSRA has spent a fortune in taxpayer monies on these so-called business plan, not to test their assumptions, or analyze the demand, prior to testing "alternative" rail passenger markets and matching them to alternative investments, prior to deciding what, if any, kind of HSR passenger rail system we should build.

The timeline of these so-called "business plans" actually shows that the CHSRA did all of these multiple "business plans" after the "decision" had already been made that we must build the most expensive HSR system money can buy. It was work done, entirely after the fact, in order to prop up and the decision to build the super high speed project, after it had already been made.

None of these so-called "business plans" were used to test the assumptions or to identify any other alternative scenario than the Super High Speed option in the planning process. None of this went into the planning or any real "alternatives analysis" process. All of this work was paid for, after the fact, in order to justify the decision already made. It was not done to determine the market to test alternative, or in any way to plan the most cost effective option to meet the identifiable travel demands this system would supposedly serve.

The many so-called "business plans"were done for no other reason than to justify the system already chosen, when critics couldn't get real answers. And, of course, these many "business plans" were done with taxpayer funds to help the CHSRA silence the many critics, who have systematically destroyed many of the CHSRA's many ludicrous assumptions. It's kind of like how the CHSRA seems to spend lavishly on PR consultants and flacks to spin the hype and shut down critics who keep raising these kind of troubling questions.

And, of course, I, and the many thousands of folks who have raised these questions and noticed just how f@%ked up this is, are obviously wrong...

So, are you on the payroll?