Mexico also having high-speed rail problems
California isn’t the only place having problems building high-speed rail. So is Mexico. The Times reported:
Bowing to intense criticism, the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto yanked a contract worth nearly $4 billion from a Chinese-led consortium to build a bullet train, billed as one of Mexico’s largest infrastructure projects in recent times.
The government ordered a new bidding process after the awarding of the concession to the Chinese group was attacked by legislators and others for its lack of transparency and apparent favoritism benefiting allies of the president. The bid was uncontested.
The consortium included several Mexican construction companies, one owned by the brother-in-law of former president and Peña Nieto mentor Carlos Salinas, Mexican news outlets have reported. Another won millions of dollars’ worth of projects in the State of Mexico when Peña Nieto was governor there.
Aside from the financial problems, Mexico has a problem similar to California’s: not enough people for a bullet train. Here are some population densities, per square kilometer:
- Japan: 336
- China: 142, mainly in the Eastern one-third of the country.
- California: 95
- Mexico: 62
California also is different because the lion’s share of our population is centered around two large areas more than 300 miles apart: Southern California and the Bay Area. It’s easier and cheaper just to hop on an airplane than to mess around with a train, however fast.
Also note that Mexico’s project would cost $4 billion, compared to California’s $68 billion. Even though labor is cheaper in Mexico, that’s still a big difference.
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“It’s easier and cheaper just to hop on an airplane than to mess around with a train, however fast.”
Thank the Lord that somebody in the media finally said what I’ve been saying for the last 2 years!!! A RT airfare from LA to SF runs about $140. And it’s a one hour flight. (2 hours RT for you math majors). A RT Crazy Train ticket will run AT LEAST $225. Probably more like $275. And with stops and slowdowns it will take a MINIMUM of 4.5 hours from LA to SF. (9 hours RT for the math majors). This is so simple it’s stupid!!!
About Mexico – are they expecting another motherload of illegal central american or south american passengers wanting to crash the Texas border and needing transportation? 🙂 That mexican pres looks like a real putz in his Ken and Barbie outfit! He’s the one offloading his garbage citizenry into the US for the US taxpayers to support. If I were POTUS I wouldn’t invade Syria. I’d invade Mexico for sending the dregs of their society into our country. The illegal Mexicans are a much bigger threat to the US than ISIS could ever be!!!
A common sense approach to border patrol is robot enforcers. Things would get fixed, a new meaning to Fast and furious. It would be cool to have them all look the the dude in the picture, El Presidente, version 2015.
Good one Desmond!
I see a whole class of monkey butler robots that could do it!
Mexico needs a high speed train about as much as I need a rocketship. President Pinata can’t even feed his own people. He has to offload them onto the United States so we have to feed, educate and house them! lol. That’s the reason California has the highest poverty rate of any other state in the union. California is the #1 choice for indigent illiterate illegal mexicans. And now he wants a high speed train??? HAH! Gag me!!! 😀