Argument Essay on Proposition 1A
Uploaded by Shimarisu on Nov 14, 2008
Is There Even A Need For A High Speed Rail System?
What does most of Europe and Asia have that for some reason American’s and Californian’s seem to fight against every chance that they can? Well besides a better infrastructure, I would say that a high-speed rail system is one of the biggest downfalls of what is supposed to be an “enlightened culture” out here on the west coast. With all the drive nowadays for “Go Green” you would have figured that everyone and their uncle would be jumping on the bandwagon to get this done already. But if it is not an argument on if it is even needed or not it gets dragged down into the issue of whether it is a good investment or not and are we going to be able to afford it. The opponents say ”Can we really afford it”? At this point, Californian’s should be asking “Can we afford NOT to get it built”? I will go over some of these arguments and present my view based on geographies of California, benefit versus cost of a high-speed rail system and what we can expect as a result of this.
If we were to superimpose an image of Japan over that of California we would notice some striking similarities in geography and space between major cities. The country of Japan’s high-speed rail system called the “bullet train” or “shinkanzen” (partly because of its shape and speed), since it began operation in 1964, has been able to transport nearly six billion passengers safely (www.japanrail.com/JR_shinkansen.html) from major city to city over 1,500 miles of track and connect areas that were previously considered secondary cities (like Fresno) to make it possible for commuters to work and return home daily. It is also taking into account safety, even though it has been in operation for over forty-four years there has not been even one fatality as a result of its operation. Consider that Japan is even more seismically active than California and it makes for an even stronger argument for its need.
Can Amtrak even with its limited track area boast such a safety record? I don’t think so. In late 2007 an Amtrak train was going 25 mph over the posted limit through a switching station and collided with a freight train causing 187 injuries (as reported by FOX News). How about that Tule fog that we get here...