California High Speed Rail San Diego to Los Angeles City Pair Investigation | CAHSR

hey it's Ral Lucid stew again in this video we will use the California highspeed rail authorities rough sketch of phase 2 as a guide trying to figure out how that might become reality while investigating the potential High-Speed Rail City pair of Los Angeles and San Diego California starting with Los Angeles we have the second largest city and metro area in the US that is 13 million for the metro and 4 million people for the city La is the Hub of car culture so naturally we'll be seeing a lot of freeways La is also home to one of the largest port complexes in the US the fifth busiest airport in the country busiest train station on the west coast Etc you get the idea public transportation is provided by Metro this includes heavy rail Light Rail Regional Rail rapid bus and regular bus service the San Diego area hosts 3.3 million people it is home to the US Navy's Pacific Fleet and Comic-Con it is also famous for having some of the best weather in the country San Diego's Transit is provided by MTS this features the San Diego Trolley which is considered one of the best light rail services in the country the San Diego area also has Regional Rail rapid bus and regular bus services San Diego International Airport is the 24th busiest in the US in between is the Inland Empire region home to about 4 million people a major function of the area is warehousing and distribution of the goods coming through the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles the area is very Suburban the various Transit agencies in the area provide Regional Rail rapid bus and regular bus services the area is served by Ontario International Airport which is the 56th busiest in the US with about on10th the traffic of of LAX it's worth noting that passenger rail already exists between Los Angeles and San Diego via Amtrak Pacific surf liner which travels near the coast and takes about 3 hours we'll start at Los Angeles Union Station what you're seeing now is a vision of a future where California highspeed rail Phase 1 is complete and its improvements to La Union Station are in place there is no chance of phase 2 being constructed before then so these improvements will be in place by the time any of the ideas in this video can happen the biggest challenge in the vicinity of La Union Station is getting from there into the ride of way of either Interstate 10 or State Route 60 by the way from here on out you'll be getting SoCal speak where we refer to any freeway as the and its number in this case the 10 and the 60 I'm choosing to follow the LA River a couple of miles south to the 60 because elevating over Freight directly west of La Union Station looks pretty difficult the 60 option has more room to maneuver anyway the 60 has decent spare room in the right of way enough for double tracked rail mostly on either side I'm picking the south side because it's a little more contiguous the first real challenge with the 60 is the interchange with the 710 This is complicated by cemeteries on either side of the 60 in close proximity and the slightly hilly nature of the terrain it is possible to dive down and get through this with about a mile of tunnel emerging in the freeway right away on the other end the next obstacle to the east is the old Monteray Park dump the 60 rideway actually passes through the old dump site which is a super fun site no less the northern portion is much smaller and less prominent the southern portion is a 250 ft High Hill likely some shift to the north side of the RightWay would be necessary here likely above ground and then back to the South Side by the monabell mall since Residential Properties directly above the freeway East of Paramount Boulevard there should be enough room to squeeze past the mall but a Jack In The Box and a few houses might need to go just east of that there is an issue with South Elon high school and a narrow section of freeway right away probably we'll need to move to the north side again if that's case about 16 houses are toast and The dery Interchange will need reconfiguring after that the San Gabriel River bed looks useful for a couple of miles before encountering Interstate 10 a short diversion along Walnut Creek proves adequate for accessing the interstate rideway heading east the freeway rideway here is full however there is just enough room in the median for Viaduct pylons so you're looking at about 5 Mi of viaduct in the middle of the the freeway here that is until the 10 reaches the San Jose Hills those Hills produce grades in excess of 4% so we'll need to go under we're looking to hook up with the Union Pacific right of away on the other side both conditions can be met with a 4 1/2 Mile tunnel there are three or four tracks in the Pomona Union Pacific rideway currently but room for two more some reconfiguration will be required like at Pomona's Metrolink Station depending how involved that becomes this is a potential High-Speed Rail Station this is in Pomona's downtown area which has potential for urban density however it is only 30 mi from La Union Station and only nine from our next stop at Ontario International Airport the main attraction here is the airport one thing you don't often hear about in regards to California highspeed rail as a project is is its potential to change the airport landscape in Southern California peeling traffic off LAX and making it bearable to use again for anyone that isn't on LA's West Side this is the case with Hollywood Burbank in Phase 1 as well as entt here there is also some development potential here although the trend in the area is highly Suburban as you can tell from the parking lot ratio at least freeway access is good good the planned bright Line West rancha kukamonga station is 3 Mi Northeast of here the area could very well turn into a Southern California transit and Hospitality Hub there are two options from this point south along Interstate 15 or out to San Bernardino and then South along Interstate 215 I'm picking I-15 because it's shorter and cheaper the transition to the 15 South would be a 60 MPH curve if if you took out two small warehouses you could do a 150 mph curve with a 3M tunnel but you'd only gain a few minutes south of that things are mostly clear on the east side of the 15 through Ontario East Vil and Norco however the 1560 interchange will need to be reconfigured on the way after that is the 1591 interchange which is a four-level junction between two major freeway and a t Junction for the 1591 Expressway Network that extends toward the coast to the West it's possible to get around this on a 90 mph probably 80 ft High flyover ramp from there the 15 climbs up toward tascal Canyon at a grade surpassing 3% in spots I have a 4 and 1/2 Mile tunnel here at less than 2% grade while underground there is an opportunity for for a station on the far Southeast side of Corona this one could easily be skipped if not the corona Crossing Shopping Center's massive parking lot looks attractive for an underground station Tesco Canyon continues to rise to the southeast but at a gentler grade which would allow the track to resurface south of Wyrick Road there's enough room in the median for two tracks at or near surface level the California High-Speed Rail map shows the route diverging from the freeway at several points facilitating high speed this can be accomplished in a 7mile stretch with destruction of a handful of freeway adjacent properties south of that following the same guidance would require a couple of tunnels through Hills one about 2 mi long the other about 4,000 ft from there things are straight and in the median until reaching the next potential station location in maretta maretta has an area of of about 70 Acres that is bounded by a major road and interstates 15 and 215 it is currently vacant this could make for a combination of High-Speed Rail station and mixed use density in an otherwise very Suburban landscape this location is near halfway between LA and San Diego on this route south of that is the beginning of the most challenging portion of the route as it must cross the Peninsular ranges diagonally for about about 25 Mi before reaching Escondido in San Diego County the ascent from Tula in Riverside County to the town of rainbow in San Diego County exceeds 4% in spots and so does the descent from there to the San Louis ray river though not cheap the most logical alternative is a 7 and 1/2 Mile tunnel through the area at a 1.25% grade there are more steep grades to the South so it makes no sense going going to ground level the best way to Traverse the narrow Valley here is Viaduct possibly as high as 100 ft that would be about 4 mil long before needing to burrow into the next Hillside the tunnel here would be just shy of 3 Mi close to level the tunnel would exit the hill to cross yet another Canyon like last time we'd want to stay up on Viaduct for a bit to ease grade changes the freeway grade here is okay for a couple of miles before reaching one last insurmountable Hill just north of Escondido this will be another 5 m of tunnel so about 15 Mi of tunnels to get through those mountains from there the route would deviate from the 15 into Escondido Center City Parkway through town has room for cut and cover or Viaduct I have the Escondido station across the street from the Escondido Transit Center this would require the acquisition of sever several properties mostly light Industrial in nature and would cut through the yard of an Escondido Fire Department Station unfortunately development potential in the area doesn't look great but at least it's next to the local Transit and a good portion of Escondido walkable downtown is within walking distance Transit here includes bus service and the Sprinter commuter train which connects to the coast and the City of Oceanside 22 Mi away another 3 Mi through Escondido before rejoining the 15 for 10 Mi south of that the terrain is Bumpy wavy and curvy through a series of low Hills and shallow Canyons there isn't much room to maneuver so a train would be under 110 mph through here some Viaduct would be necessary to deal with short abrupt elevation changes like here at the Crossing of puskas Creek this would combine with a 3500t foot tunnel under this hill to handle what is about a 5% grade for the freeway at this point the California High-Speed Rail map has two options the northern one appears to be a 9M tunnel between the 15 and the five I'm ruling that out due to the expense the second follows State Route 163 to the 8 and then over to the 5 I'm also ruling that out because the 163 right of way is very constricted and Mission Valley between the 163 and the five would be awkward at best maybe they could double up on the MTS Green Line infrastructure there but the route is just so ugly even though it's only 3 miles so I've created a third option I'm going back underground for 2 and 1 half miles to get to Marine Corp Air Station Miramar through some tricky freeway RightWay from there paralleling the 15 at ground level realigning existing structures along the way there is a canyon here through the Marine base that would make an excellent conduit to Interstate 5 to the West however there are some circumstances that may remove this as a viable option like a natural National Monument options exist to make this path work like sticking to the freeway rights of way or staying underground for another 4 miles in tunnel either way this part of San Diego county is clearly a pain as mentioned that Canyon leads to Interstate 5 which will take us the rest of the way to the line's Terminus near San Diego International Airport mostly viaduct in the freeway median from here into the station site that's about 8 mil things get interesting around the old town transit center where a couple of buildings will need to go and then you're probably looking at a box of iuct like they're building in the Central Valley to get over the railroad tracks here from there it's just just enough room to squeeze in two tracks might need to shift the freeway North slightly I have the route scooting out of the freeway right away at the Washington Street Station and our San Diego Station Landing across the street from that everything there currently must go we're on the wrong side of the airport but not much can be done about it eventually San Diego is supposed to connect The Trolley system directly to the airport so it's not necessary for California highspeed rail to do it anyway this station would be 2 mi from downtown San Diego and easily accessible via transit tracks would be elevated and the format would be similar to stations planned for the Central Valley so there you have it a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Diego with additional stops possibly in Pomona Ontario Corona Marrietta and Escondido something similar to this could actually happen sometimes before the timeline of Star Trek the Original Series let's take a look at how fast this might travel and how much it might cost Los Angeles to San Diego as a local 153 Mi at an average of 128 m per hour for a total travel time of 1 hour 40 minutes La Union Station to Ontario International Airport as an Express 40 m at an average of 136 mph for a total travel time of 18 minutes maretta to San Diego as a local with a stop in Escondido 60 M at an average of 130 mph for a travel time of 36 minutes and Los Angeles to San Diego as an Express 153 mil at an average of50 mph for a total travel time of 1 hour and 2 minutes not quite as fast as what's planned in the Central Valley but still Speedy at three times faster than amtr Pacific surf liner so what's it going to cost for highspeed rail from Los Angeles to San Diego you're looking at $ 36.8 billion in 2028 adjusted for inflation to a more realistic 2050 that's about 64 billion that gives a total price tag for phase one and this LA to San Diego route of about $190 billion I hope you enjoyed this closer look at LA to San Diego using California highspeed rails route as guidance if you have any opinions about this route or just highspeed rail in general please share them in the comments up next is another stews news on December 1st 2023 also coming up is my next next Federal Railroad Administration High-Speed Rail corridors video this time I'll look at the Northeast Corridor but that's all for now until next time I'll see you on that big beautiful [Music] [Music] freeway [Music]

Channel: Lucid Stew

Views: 48,517

Keywords: HSR, High Speed Rail, California HSR, CHSR, California High Speed Rail, Los Angeles, San Diego, LAX

Id: 2G8uwwhMzQc

Length: 17min 32sec (1052 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 29 2023