Originally Posted by dtremit
...I fear that north-south air shuttles will be a lot less cheap and convenient in twenty years when fuel prices continue to skyrocket and airports like SFO and OAK are stretched beyond their breaking points. Aside from just not having all your eggs in one basket, the fuel flexibility of electric trains makes an excellent hedge to a mode of transport as petroleum-bound as planes.
Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps we can agree, though, that paying $30 billion or more is not a cheap way to keep N-S California transportation cheap.
Edited to add this Q to my fellow FTer in BOS -- if we're going to put serious money into high speed rail, shouldn't the priority be in the Boston to Wash DC route? From what I've read, there's room for much improvement there, with more favorable market and terrain conditions.