Steamfan Wrote:
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> Hasn't the new routing been planned for a long
> time? Why does there have to be so many studies
> and no real work done?

This is moving beyond the "needs" abd alternatives analysis. The need is obvious, the alternatives have been analyzed, and the preferred alternative is being finalized (basically the same route proposed by American High Speed Rail Corporation 42 years ago). This is to begin things like test borings to test tunnel geology down to a desing level, and utility plots, and seriious pre design, and all ultimately necessary to final design work.

I've done tunnel, there's a bunch of stuff you need to know about things like natural gases, water, rock type, drainage, before you can even do serious alternative analysis and even prelimnary cost estimation, much less to build it.

Depending upon what they find, it will help to refine that "$3 to $4 billion" range and have specifications for work that can really start to actually build it.

I spoke ot one of my old colleague's who is still doing regional rail planning about this same problem at San Clemente just yesterday.

As you rightly noted this takes a long time even to get to this point, and the need will only get worse at this location. So I suggested to my old colleague the San Clemente High Speed Rail Bypass Study be added to his next fiscal year (FY) planning program. Unfortunately, the next FY planning program doesn't begin until next July 1st.

Then we lamented the time lag on these projects, and pointed out to him that I was working on the needs and funding estimates for the LOSSAN north CTC to SLO, fourteen years ago, before I went into consulting. What is sad is that even the relatively sensible and "easy stuff" like this takes "fourteen years" to finally get done.