> the bullet-train fiasco was not stopped earlier because “Liu exploited the communist > leadership’s fascination with bigness and national prestige.”


Bigness and national prestige? - As a reason to build a fancy high speed railroad? You mean as in, "America Deserves HSR", as I have repeatedly heard people say on this forum; often followed by a rant about us becoming "Third World" if we don't get it soon. So it is about 'Status' then - in some people's minds.

What it should be about,
is a prudent response to the impending and inevitable collapse of the automobile/truck paradigm, as a primary means of transport. Which collapse is unavoidable and very soon; as long as we continue to fuel it with foreign oil. Moreover, even without that impending collapse, our continued dependence on foreign oil presents a HUGE National Security Threat! Both these problems challenge our very survival as a nation.

Whereas, fueling it with our own oil (newly drilled) would quickly reduce that threat and put off the collapse of the Automobile paradigm; it will still only buy us a few years; but maybe enough time to re-build an alternative passenger rail system. That is, if we would just get at it already! And what we get at, at first, only needs to be fast enough to consistently beat the automobile by a comfortable margin in travel times - Now, both problems permanently solved.

It is not about some inane pride, or about what smug Europeans thinks. Here it is about continued national survival; and given that, we had better not let national pride get in the way, by blowing all our resources on just a few HSR lines, while the country as a whole has to do without any alternatives at all. Obama is right to direct most high-speed money in this direction (to 79-110mph services), as this can be done much more quickly, and spread much much further.


But there is a huge downside risk to any well grounded project! This one in particular - as way too much of our very limited resources are already being squandered - to our own national peril! So was the Heritage Foundation article about China, or California?

First off - the heritage foundation is a sort of conservative think tank. So of course, they would prefer 'private' solutions to any industrial challenges. But to be fair though - they nailed this one. There is little difference between China's and California HSR's buffoonery, incompetence, arrogance, and I might add - sheer corruption.

What the article alluded too, but didn't really expand on much, was that the huge contribution to China's national debt has bought them only a barely functioning high speed railroad system, fraught with daily mechanical, electrical, and control system failures, to the point where public safety is being questioned (even in a regime where that is not very important). And much of it is stolen technology besides, poorly applied though it may be!

Now California's HSR board was being played up too - big time, by the Chinese; to the point that the Chinese had even thrown out there - the possibility that they might be willing to help "Finance" it for us. Now do we really want it that bad, that we are willing to sell our American soul's to get it - just so we wouldn't be considered 'third world'?

My opinion: While it is always wise to learn lessons from the hardships of others, we either develop our own HSR technology, to our own standards of safety and reliability; or we do without it - simple enough.

And what would we be getting in return for the soul of America anyway? The blatantly obvious answer is - We would get the combining of Chinese buffoonery, incompetence, arrogance, and sheer corruption; with California's buffoonery, incompetence, arrogance, and sheer corruption. The net result of that would of course be a double dose of poorly applied technology and international patent law violations; resulting in daily mechanical, electrical, and control system failures; to the point where public safety will be questioned.

California has already been there and done all of that - with BART, which took better than two decades to get under control (still a lot wrong there). But this new HSR combination would be like BART's teething problems on steroids! Moreover, the cost history of public transportation projects in California is absurd and extreme; with projects consistently costing twice or more what they cost in other states, and anywhere from 15 to 25 times the going rate paid for rail infrastructure by private industry.

Why this is so, is open to some discussion, as no one answer seems to account for it all. But it seems at least to be a combination of extreme NYMBYism, extremely favorable too contractor state laws, and need I say it - rampant unfettered corruption (both political and financial) - radiating like a loud deafening beacon right out of Sacramento, and saturating the whole damn state in every venue. Now just add the combination of Chinese HSR corruption mixed with California HSR corruption, to that already fertile California environment; and not even the angels of heaven could ever fix the consequences!

Conservative or not, the Heritage Foundation is right to point these dangers out. I just wish they would also point out the unholy alliance between the California state government (politicians and bureaucrats) and its private contractors. In any event, if we have any brains at all, we will heed their warning (and mine) - if not, what we will deserve, is the inevitable Darwinian results!

OPB