Tag: SNCF-French Railways

SNCF Presentation Revealed! 07/12/12 Filed in: High-Speed Rail Now that the California High-Speed Rail Authority is doing everything possible to discredit and bury the story of the proposal by the French National Railways, SNCF, the time has come to show the world what all the hubbub is about. The SNCF Powerpoint addresses what SNCF saw as the key weakness of the CHSRA project–its insistence on building the initial system without private capital and without the direct involvement of a firm with HSR operating experience. The presentation suggests CHSRA use the structure of a Pre-Development Agreement to bring an experienced operator…

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The Empire Strkes Back 07/12/12 Filed in: High-Speed Rail The LA Times’ story on the French National Railways, SNCF, presentation has stirred up a hornet’s nest of reaction. CHSRA apologist Robert Cruickshank’s site CAHSR blog carried a scathing condemnation of the LA Times story, along with the exclusive release of CHSRA Board Chair Richard’s letter to the LA Times editor. In response to the stunning levels of vitriol and bad faith, TRANSDEF posted these comments: After first responding to the SNCF story with a deer-in-the-headlights “No comment,” CHSRA is now in full damage control mode. The sheer number of slurs…

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Freelance Journalist Picks Up Secret HSR Story 07/11/12 Filed in: High-Speed Rail Check out this piece published yesterday on MarketUrbanism.com by Stephen Smith, freelance journalist, and see his comments at the end. What I learned today about SNCF and California HSR By Stephen Smith, on July 10th, 2012 If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you’ll know that I spent this afternoon on the phone with folks in California, looking into the recent SNCF-CHSRA bombshell. To summarize: SNCF, the highly experienced French national high-speed rail operator, apparently had a plan for California’s HSR network, but was turned off by the highly politicized routing. Namely, they wanted to make a straight shot from LA to San Francisco…

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CHSRA-Apologist Website Dumps on LA Times 07/10/12 Filed in: High-Speed Rail Robert Cruickshank, a leading (paid?) apologist for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, wrote a blog post trashing the LA Times SNCF story and its reporter, which generated hundreds of comments, including many suggesting that the I-5 route deserved a closer look. TRANSDEF posted this comment: Robert’s take-down of the messenger (LAT) misses the point entirely. SNCF presented a proposal in conjunction with a U.S. investment bank that was willing to finance the entire LA-SF line. This was a project that made enough business sense to them–it minimized costs while…

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