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Comment by schlauerfox | Hacker News Reader

We're literally right now building a huge high speed rail project that is planned to link san diego to san francisco through LA, bakersfield and fresno. Progress is made on it daily. https://www.youtube.com/CAHighSpeedRail

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And when did that project start and how much has it cost and how far can you ride on what they've completed up until now?

That may be true for some twisted definition of "building". Most people would say the money is simply being wasted by bureaucrats, consultancies, etc.

Rejoice. It will be the world’s slowest and most expensive “high speed” rail.

So slow, in fact, many countries have faster regular rail.

Progress is made on it daily? Great. How soon can I ride it?

Caltrain, from SF to SJ, is part of the California high speed rail system, and you can ride it right now. It's now electrified at 25KV, welded rail, concrete ties, and compatible with high speed rail. The Stadler trains are capable of 125MPH but are run slower because there are so many stations.

If you are claiming that Caltrain is part of the grand high speed rail system, you are literally being taken for a ride

The track is. That's how the SF connection is supposed to be made.

The initial segment in Central Valley has current date of 2032. It depends on if federal government restores funding or if California has to fund itself.

Phase 1 from SF to LA is estimated for 2035-2040. They might do end-to-end service before that with existing tracks and slower speeds, especially from Palmdale to LA. The SF and LA segments require tunneling to get over the mountains.

What's notable about the initial segment is that it parallels (and thus duplicates) an existing Amtrak service between Bakersfield and Merced. So the initial operating segment gives us zero new destinations by rail.

But, hey, you'll be able to go really fast between California's 6th and 80th largest cities!

This is a joke, right?

Comments like these make me think, wow this place is no better than Reddit

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