Traveling from San Francisco to Los Angeles takes at least 6 hours (without traffic) of being stuck behind the wheel. If you have the foresight to book a flight in advance, flying takes about an hour (if the flight isn’t delayed), plus arriving an hour and a half early to an airport in the middle of nowhere so you can be treated like sheep as you’re herded through security. By the time you’ve arrived in LA its been almost three hours, and you’re still not at your destination!

High speed rail just makes sense. California’s population is predicted to grow to over 50 million in the next 15 years, and our airports and highways will continue to become more and more crowded. High speed rail would unite California, just as it has united Western Europe and Japan.

In addition, high speed rail has been predicted to:

* create 450,000 jobs throughout the state
* result in 10,000 fewer auto accidents every year
* reduce carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to removing 1.4 million cars from the road
* generate enough revenue to pay for its construction cost in the long run
* reduce CO2 emissions by up to 17.6 billion pounds/year.
* Reduce California’s oil consumption by up to 22 million barrels/year
* result in denser development, limiting sprawl
* be less than half the cost of expanding freeways and airports to meet future intercity travel demand.