March 7, 2008

Faster than a speeding bullet: Rod Diridon Sr. and the bullet train

By Gary Hill
Special to the Times

Rod Diridon Sr., the "father" of modern transit services in Santa Clara County, discussed the bullet train with attendees of the Feb, 25 general meeting of the Republican Club at the Villages.

From left: Rod Diridon, Sr., John Campbell and Peggy Long in a spirited discussion of transporation. Photo by Lou Rosenberg

Current executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State and chair emeritus of the California High Speed Rail Authority, Diridon gave an expert presentation on the planned transportation system.

According to Diridon, pollution from transportation is responsible for 40 percent of the “global warming” caused by carbon fuels in the world today. This situation would be greatly relieved by using sustainable electric transportation systems such as that proposed for California. These systems have been operating for years in Germany, France and Japan, and have proven to be highly profitable and very safe. These trains can operate at speeds exceeding 300 miles per hour, and regularly run at about 200 miles per hour.

The California High Speed train will be the largest transportation project in the US. It is estimated to cost $40 billion in today’s dollars and will cover the transportation needs for California’s growth until the year 3000. The alternative, using traditional transportation approaches, would cost $100 billion (additional freeways, and two new mega-airports in San Francisco and Los Angeles), and would dramatically increase carbon-fuel pollution.

For travel up to 600 miles, high-speed rail is significantly more efficient than short-haul airplanes. Travel time between San Jose and Los Angeles will be 2 hours, 9 minutes and will cost $50; travel between Fresno and San Jose will take 52 minutes and cost $18.

The benefits of the system are numerous; it’s quicker, safer, less costly and offers additional capacity. It will create 450,000 jobs. Once the system is in place, pollution from carbon fuels will be reduced by 12.4 billion pounds per year.

A $9 billion State bond issue will be on the ballot in November, if private investment firms have lined up substantial financial support of the program cost. The remainder of the cost will be covered by Federal support through various tax incentives. Assuming the bond issue eventuates positively, the project’s time table is controlled by the approval of the Environmental Impact Statement. Diridon believes that an optimistic beginning would be in 2011, or 2012 with a ribbon-cutting opening ceremony of the system in 2018.

The next meeting on Mar. 25 will feature Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. One of the topics he will discuss is the June ballot proposition on eminent domain.