High-Speed Train Proposal

Re “$20.7-Billon Train Seeks Fast Track,” May 11: I want to thank you for your article on high-speed trains between Northern and Southern California. As a frequent flier and L.A. freeway user, it is hard for me to understand why this high-speed train idea is not at the top of the list of urgent items to be addressed.

Even at off-peak hours, LAX is extremely crowded and inconvenient to use. I sure don’t need to say anything about how easy our freeways are to use at any hour. This is 1998 and we seem to be close to saturation; what will things be like in even one or two years, let alone 10 to 20 years from now? The high-speed rail system seems to address a great many problems in a very efficient and convenient way. Center city to center city travels, easy connections, not obstructing any other traffic, easy to use and much more.

Let’s hope our legislators will get behind this proposal and turn high-speed rail into reality without it turning into a boondoggle.

ALAN FISHEL

Long Beach

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OK, so people are going to pay almost as much as a plane ticket to travel 180 mph on a train? And they’ll arrive at their destination a little faster than a car? Including the time getting to and from the train station, it will be as slow as driving. And it’ll cost $21 billion (twice that when its finished) to accomplish this feat? What lunatic would think this up?

What kind of Rube Goldberg would come up with a line that goes from L.A. to Riverside to Escondido to San Diego? A 6-year-old could see that it won’t work. Vote against this debacle!

JAMES WASSER

Long Beach