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A comment on High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to kill it. Parent comment

Re:High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to ki... by sumbry on Sunday February 12, 2017 @05:46PM (#13631532)
It is pretty common knowledge why they did this. Original plans for the BART had it traveling over the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin County. Due to high winds across the bridge, they wanted a wider gauge to prevent trains from tipping.
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Re:High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to ki... by gsnedders on Sunday February 12, 2017 @07:48PM (#13632235)
Given standard gauge trains transverse plenty of bridges which frequently have high-winds, that seems… dubious.
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Re:High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to ki... by CalChris on Sunday February 12, 2017 @05:49PM (#13631546)
Yes, this is a popular theory but there's no evidence in the fossil record.
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Re:High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to ki... by yellowapple on Sunday February 12, 2017 @06:28PM (#13631823)
Is there evidence in any direction? This really sounds like the most plausible hypothesis, to me at least.
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Re:High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to ki... by Groxx on Sunday February 12, 2017 @08:27PM (#13632427)
With strange, custom-construction-requiring stuff like this, I tend to wonder how much of it would be explained by "help self/a buddy get rich". It's practically guaranteeing that there's going to be a single company supporting it for all time, which is a potentially-extremely-lucrative business deal.

If that's the case, obfuscating the reasons for these decisions is a rational move.

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Re:High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to ki... by ern on Sunday February 12, 2017 @09:56PM (#13632814)
It's a bit cynical to say this but running HSR on an incompatible network protects it against future politicians who may seek to sabotage it by merging networks.
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Re:High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to ki... by gsnedders on Monday February 13, 2017 @09:37AM (#13635476)
This sounds similar to the reason why the Glasgow Subway runs on a 4' (1219mm) gauge: to stop it from being taken over by the numerous (at the time privately owned) railways around the city which were all standard gauge.
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Re:High-speed rail taking shape even as opponents seek to ki... by DrScump on Sunday February 12, 2017 @06:34PM (#13631853)
Marin was not a participating county, and that was established long before gauge would have been chosen.
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