A new bullet train will soon be running directly through the California city centers to create a faster and more direct route for commuters. This is at the expense of produce stores, homes and apartments alike, which are going down by the hundreds. Those unlucky businesses and residences that lay in the path of this new planned high-speed train have been plucked up by the state one by one so they can be demolished.
The cost of a faster commute
It’s a transportation solution that will save commuters vast amounts of time. But many are wondering what the trade-off is and who is paying the price for it and questioning whether the train is truly worth it or not.
In many cases, it’s not as if the train tracks would merely graze these buildings. In some cases, the rail line is planned to cut right through the middle of local stores. Some of these are family-owned and have been in business for over half a century.
Who is suffering the consequences?
There are hundreds of other structures that are impacted by these new railway plans. In order to make way for the train’s path, the state of California acquired these businesses and residences so they could be demolished.
Although the bullet train was scheduled for completion in 2020, including the essential pieces of the railway needed to get the train up and running, unforeseen complications led to many types of delays. The agency that’s building the train has been at work on this project since 2015.
The end game with this high-speed train system is to ultimately form a direct connection between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The process of acquiring these properties has been a major source of the delays in finishing this project.
The bullet train’s route cuts right through California’s Central Valley. It’s an area that, in spite of its low population density, will be significantly disrupted once this project has been completed. The entirety of construction work that’s been done so far is constrained to one segment of the railway in this valley that’s 171 miles long.
The good news is that it seems like officials are listening. In response to these complications, the new focus going forward is to make railways that go between major metropolises. But some train routes will still be able to non-disruptively cut through these big cities because these coastal cities tend to sprawl out over wide expanses of land.