ALL ABOARD

One of the victories I savored in the November 2008 elections was the overwhelming passage of the high speed rail initiative. Japan and several European countries, have all enjoyed many, many years of high speed service, so it was VERY exciting that Californians were so embracing.

Unfortunately, the usual government feet dragging (and the whiny NIMBY's) are putting the service in jeopardy.

First, a judge threw out the environmental report that recommended using the Pacheco Pass route (which was the preferred route as it was a more convenient route from San Francisco into San Joaquin Valley) rather than the Altamont Pass, which although has railroad tracks laid, those tracks would have to be upgraded and it would add travel time. He said it was a flawed report and that the rail authority would have to start over.

Then, those who live along the route on the Peninsula expressed grave concern about having high-speed trains running through neighborhoods (they asked that the line be built underground). If the NIMBY's knew anything of what they were squawking about, they would know that service would not be high speed through that area and the added cost of burying the tracks would just be a ridiculous waste of money.

Idiots.

The latest round causing delays is the location of the terminal. It was originally supposed to be in the lower level of a revamped Transbay Terminal on Mission and First Streets (which is the desired terminus as it's so conveniently located downtown). Now there is talk of just having the terminus at the CalTrain station on Fourth and Beale. This is so wrong and so ridiculous. World-class train service should NOT terminate in a location so remote that you then have to transfer to a Muni bus or metro train to complete your travel (especially since MUNI is so predictably unreliable).

Wouldn't it be nice if those in charge could just do the right thing for once and stick with the original plan? Delays are also putting the receipt of federal stimulus money from the federal government in jeopardy (which puts the entire project in peril), proving yet again, that we are not Ameri-cans, just Ameri-cant's.