Thanks so much for this diary. Here in California we're gearing up for the critical year in our HSR plan. In the late 1990s the state legislature directed the creation of a high speed rail plan. In 2002 that plan was delivered, the first stage of which involves a line from downtown SF to downtown LA. It was to go before voters in 2004, but Arnold Schwarzenegger postponed the vote until 2006, and again until 2008. This time it's going to happen, but with a state budget crisis and low public awareness of peak oil it's not at all clear that voters will go for it.

So I've appointed myself the task of trying to change that. I spent much of the last couple days working on a high speed rail advocacy site. Once it's ready to go I'll post a link here for you all; I hope you'll give me feedback and thoughts for improvement.

One thing I would LOVE is for folks here to submit "testimonials" that I can post on the site about HSR. Something that explains why you have found HSR lines you've used to be so valuable, and/or why it would be compelling for you if CA built such a line. Also, if any of you have useful information, such as stats showing the fiscal viability of HSR, favorable comparisons with air travel (especially in terms of ridership), or hard numbers about greenhouse gas reduction, that would be great too.

E-mail's below.

And the world will live as one