High-Speed Rail Double Talk and Magic Tricks

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has been engaging in a lot of Madison Avenue double-talk lately.  They've been coining new phrases which are in code and highly misleading.

The latest is called the "Blended, two-track Caltrain HSR Solution." It means they will take the existing infrastructure of Caltrain's two tracks and modify them minimally for running some high-speed trains as well.  We'll get back to that in a moment.

The other phrases, like "phased implementation," "initial construction segment," and "value engineering" conceal much more about their intentions than what they reveal.  When you read between these lines, what we are actually being told is the following.

a. They will do the cheapest thing possible. The lowest cost will drive the design.  This ignores the requirements of mitigating environmental impact and they will double-talk their way around that.

b. They will violate the requirements of the authorizing legislation by not having all the funding in place to build a HSR-usable segment, but will go ahead anyhow by claiming that completion will take a lot longer but they will get a start regardless.

c. They will not build a required, operational segment first, but merely lay as much track in the Central Valley as they have money for.  That locks up their "territory" while they lobby for more funds, regardless of how long that takes. This project could take decades to become operational.  Meanwhile, they remain in business and on the government payroll. The more they can put on the ground the soonest, the more their eternal future will be, even if they never complete and make this train operational.

So, back to this blended business on the Caltrain corridor.  "Blended" means squat!  They state that they are going to accept the recommendations of Congresswoman Eshoo, State Senator Simitian and Assemblyman Gordon to use only the existing two tracks, and run both high-speed trains and Caltrain during the day.  That makes for about ten trains, combined, each hour.

It also means that the trains won't go faster than 110 mph (if that fast) and HSR wouldn't be able to meet the time requirements of the legislation.  But, who cares?!  In order for this "phased implementation" modification to happen, the rail corridor will have to be electrified, necessary of HSR and a dream come true for Caltrain.  The rail authority will also require additional tracks for passing, so it will no longer be a 'true' two track system. (They already have four short additional passing track segments along the whole corridor, but will require a lot more.)

While our politicians required that this 'blended' solution would be the final one, with no future modifications, the rail authority has not accepted that.  Remember, their intention is to have four tracks elevated on a viaduct. They are agreeing to this reduced version only because they don't have an extra $6 to $10 billion to build the four track elevated viaduct at this time.   Once they have the funding for that, they will build that on the Caltrain corridor, and the 'blended' two track solution goes out the window.  

Oh, yes, and what has been built for the 'blended' two track version, including electrification, will all have to get torn out to build the elevated viaduct.

All this is typical of how this project continues to unfold in California.  Lies, deception, false promises, endless, pointless negotiations, threats, and lots of double talk in the rail authority documentation and Senate hearings, as well as their own monthly board meetings.

Let me make a final point here.  Consider the rail authority as a magician with two hands.  One hand is set on building this train and we are keeping our eyes on that hand as we argue that the facts are wrong, the numbers are understated (costs) or inflated (ridership.) We quarrel about which alignment they intend and we want.  We disagree with this or that detail. We threaten lawsuits about environmental report violations.  This is the hand they want us to watch.

Meanwhile, the other hand is not about the train itself, which is merely a distraction, it's about the people and what they are doing behind the scenes to enhance their political or professional careers and enrich their bank accounts.  That's the hand of this magician we are not supposed to be looking at.  That's the hand of corruption and greed, political manipulation, contract padding, conflicts of interest and croneyism.  

We've seen a lot of documentation about this, although none recently.  That warrants some serious investigative journalism.  We had our attention called to it with the State Auditor report but nothing further came of it.

We need to keep our eye on the people, not just the train.