California High-Speed Rail

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

I'm actually behind it. I don't understand why there isn't a direct/express train route LA to SF already. The whole train/bus thing is ridiculous. For the right price, I'd take a train.

Well, you can take the train from LA to Emeryville and the shuttle bus there should have you dropped off in San Francisco about 20 minutes later (or get off at Jack London in Oakland (the stop before Emeryville and walk to the opposite end of Jack London Square and take the nice view ferry to the Ferry Terminal). Personally, on a cost basis I have not found Amtrak work it for getting from LA back to the Bay Area but it is a pleasant trip to do for the fun of it.

But a big part of why there isn't direct train service into downtown San Francisco, I'd imagine, is that since the lower deck of the Bay Bridge was converted to car traffic from train traffic, all trains into San Francisco are, by definition, dead end routes and apparently there isn't sufficient justification for a train that that stops in San Francisco without continuing on up the coast (I know that when I've taken the train up only one or two cars out of eight are used for Bay Area drop offs).