California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR) System

No, but there's a greater need for LA-SF nonstops to blow by Merced while a stopping train is in the station. It provides much more freedom in scheduling, thus increasing overall capacity.

The Merced station has 2 HSR platform tracks, 2 HSR through tracks, and 1 San Joaquin track under the canopy. There is a provision for adding a later platform outside the canopy for ACE services at Merced. I presume this means that Merced is where they plan on enabling interchange between CAHSR and local services in the northern Central Valley.

lensovet wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 4:47 pm What are you talking about? The canopy is completely open air. The platform is not enclosed. There is no shade. The average high in Merced from June through September is above 100 degrees.

The canopy provides shade, the height allows air flow, which is crucial, and keep in mind, the actual waiting areas, concourse, etc., are all indoors, with HVAC controlling the climate. The platform areas will be comfortable enough for the 5 minutes anybody spends on them.

Yeah, 100 degree weather is totally comfortable.

The canopy is not solid. It is literally pillars with gaps between them.

You know what else provides airflow? An open space, which is what this is.

lensovet wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 10:47 pm Yeah, 100 degree weather is totally comfortable.

I'll take 100F with a relative humidity in the 20's or 30's any day over 80F in Manhattan, Chicago or Houston with 80% relative humidity....

Together with some of the worst AQI in the country. If it's so great, why not move there? The real estate market is pretty cheap in that area.

lensovet wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 10:47 pm Yeah, 100 degree weather is totally comfortable.

The canopy is not solid. It is literally pillars with gaps between them.

You know what else provides airflow? An open space, which is what this is.

What's the point of this comment? The platforms are going to be outside, that's how it works unless we also enclose a lengthy section of the rail approach. Greater comfort for outside is achieved by lofted canopies, not more confined space. This is physics, not a question of whether it gets hot in the Central Valley. Everybody knows that it does, the question is what does and what does not mitigate, if only slightly, that issue.

lensovet wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2024 2:59 am Together with some of the worst AQI in the country. If it's so great, why not move there? The real estate market is pretty cheap in that area.

Because taxation and over-regulation are theft, and California excels at both.

I can find 100F and low humidity in several other states that don't engage in either.

HenryAlan wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2024 11:22 am

lensovet wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 10:47 pm Yeah, 100 degree weather is totally comfortable.

The canopy is not solid. It is literally pillars with gaps between them.

You know what else provides airflow? An open space, which is what this is.

What's the point of this comment? The platforms are going to be outside, that's how it works unless we also enclose a lengthy section of the rail approach. Greater comfort for outside is achieved by lofted canopies, not more confined space. This is physics, not a question of whether it gets hot in the Central Valley. Everybody knows that it does, the question is what does and what does not mitigate, if only slightly, that issue.

So you're telling me that a waiting passenger in 100-degree weather will appreciably notice the difference between a solid roof canopy that is 14' tall and provides full shade vs. this slotted canopy that's 70' tall and will provided slits of shade, and this difference will be in favor of the slotted tall canopy?

How much time have you spent living in the desert?.... He's right about the lofted canopy. It's the same reason that most new build homes in AZ and NV have 10-12' ceilings.

What you see as slits of shade are vents that allow the air that's heated up by those concrete heat sinks called platforms to flow up and out.

Trap those pockets of superheated air just a few feet over your head, and you'll feel it. Ask anyone who has unloaded a truck that's been sitting in the full sun...

Lucid Stew's latest video on CHSR stations, their locations, and their ease of access.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLt7mqn1Lfw
I do not think he thinks they are great.

lensovet wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2024 10:55 pm So you're telling me that a waiting passenger in 100-degree weather will appreciably notice the difference between a solid roof canopy that is 14' tall and provides full shade vs. this slotted canopy that's 70' tall and will provided slits of shade, and this difference will be in favor of the slotted tall canopy?

If you think they are going to be waiting on any platform at all, you aren't thinking this through enough. They will go to the platform a few minutes before the train arrives. That said, a spacious, airy platform will absolutely be more comfortable. As I said above, that's not a matter of opinion, it's physics.

electricron wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 11:25 am Lucid Stew's latest video on CHSR stations, their locations, and their ease of access.
I do not think he thinks they are great.

Primary complaint seems to be about the parking and some of the station locations?

Not sure what can be improved there. CAHSRA doesn't have the authority to build housing or commercial development, station sites are partly a function of local approval/opposition, and none of the cities in the central valley have development dense enough whereby direct access without driving makes sense.

By his reasoning, Metropark should be razed too, yet it's the busiest non-terminal station in the entire state of New Jersey.

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 4:19 am https://www.instagram.com/p/C4eSxjAPf1s ... ZoMHZ1Nmpl

It is hard to tell but the span over BNSF certainly is wide. Seems at least possible 4 tracks wide under the span. Or maybe giving some room if a possible BNSF derailment? It is no wonder the costs for CA HSR is so expensive.

A though about the HSR bridges. Are the bridges all using the same type and length of spans. Otherwise the problem of service interruption due to a bridge failure for whatever reason (derailment, truck hitting span, earthquake, etc.) will mean a long wait for a unique replacement. Standard spans would mean storage of extras for the eventual need.