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A Hyperloop startup company (it might have been HyperloopTT) pivoted from passenger rail to containers in Hyperloop and found there was even less of a market for that than passenger rail. Most containers sit on boats for weeks before getting to the port, so constructing parallel infrastructure...

Today's update wasn't great: 1.5 to 3 feet of soil movement in the area, plus at least two other places where the soil may be moving and impinging around the beach trail. They're going to give everything a look tomorrow. I'm not surprised given the rain totals: 3-5 inches for the past three...

Today's trains headed to San Luis Obispo terminated and originated at Goleta. The CS also terminated and will originate at EMY. Starting to wonder if there's a larger issue with trackage west/north of Goleta, but haven't seen anything in the news.

Saw this for today's (Feb. 5) Surfliner's service notice (posted late): Train 761 cancelled. Train 774 originates at LAX. Train 777 terminates in Goleta instead of San Luis Obispo. Train 794 originates in Goleta. Doesn't look like 14(5) originated from LAX this morning so it might start at EMY...

6(4) has just pulled into Truckee about 5 hours late. So if our intrepid traveler made the journey they'll be on their way east assuming there isn't a pause there for snow removal.

Inspecting the Caltrans cameras at Truckee and it doesn't look like a fun drive on 80. Chains required from Kingvale. Doesn't look like the two feet of snow has transpired yet but I'm hearing reports that the front pushed 80mph gusts at Point Reyes today. Update: Sacramento (Mather Airport)...

Today's 6 arrived at Colfax 2 hrs 42 minutes late (just after 3pm) but is under a service disruption. 5(2) is on the way to Colfax as we speak.

Just to give an idea of what we're possibly looking at in Central and Southern California: NWS in San Diego tends to estimate high but they seem to be correlating with NWS in Oxnard for the LA Basin. Not shown: windy conditions along the CS route out of LAX through the Central Coast and into...

If you haven't seen the news already, there's a major storm bearing down on California over the next three days. The Surfliner has preemptively cut back service for Sunday, February 4th: Train 777 will terminate in Goleta instead of San Luis Obispo. Train 785 will terminate at Los Angeles...

Late to the party, but the latest call for Truckee (8:30pm Saturday) is two feet of snow on Sunday with a high of 36 - plus Monday will be a nightmare along I-80. You might be able to get into Truckee but getting out may not happen for a day or two, and any lodging in that area will be scarce if...

Climate scientist Daniel Swain updated his blog about the two upcoming storms to hit California this week (through 2/9) here. The first storm (tomorrow and Friday) isn't looking too bad except for potentially some (minor) flooding effects around San Diego. If the models verify - we're still a...

The soils in the area might not support anything like that, plus it's really unlikely the California Coastal Commission would sign off on it. The Del Mar Bluffs are currently held together by concrete pylons driven into the ground and they only expect them to hold everything together until 2050...

The Coast Starlight from SF to LA hugs the coast for a significant part of the route on old single track. Not a lot of places to arrange meets for passing trains and the maintenance isn't what it used to be when the Daylight/Starlight ran in the SP days. Plus you have a number of stops and hills...

Not at all. I've been on a Surfliner that was sprayed by the sea during high surf. Exactly. There's no space on the coastline that won't get messed up by erosion, rising tides, or both. The Del Mar Bluffs realignment project has been planned for a while and they're down to two ideas; they just...

The weather forecast from February 1st through the 9th is less real than Disneyland but it's trending quite wet. That might delay proceedings, or cause another slide somewhere else while they're fixing this one. While we may need more rain down here, I hope those scenarios don't come to pass...

Received an email this evening that I was rounded up into Select for this year despite being 400 points short. I wonder if they took the line closures around San Clemente into account.

On the whole if it's a "normal" day I agree things are better for the average traveler at airports. Apps certainly help in normal IRROPS situations even when the airline has automatically rebooked you. WiFi is generally pretty good these days at airports, and I agree food is quite a bit better...

The east span replacement cost $6.5 billion, which was at the time the most expensive state project they ever completed. The initial budget was just to retrofit the bridge and that was only $250 million. Apparently the final cost was at least twice what was budgeted after initial bids, and...

I can see a state where nothing changes from the Amtrak California perspective and the current services run as slower regionals. It would be similar to Deutsche Bahn offering ICE and DB Regio services. HSR isn't going to cover the coastal routes, so the CS and Surfliners can stay relatively...

The rest of the train ride was uneventful. We left Prague about twenty minutes behind schedule, which isn't bad considering the train started in Budapest and there's plenty of ongoing track work. We made up the time just before Berlin, but gave ten minutes of it back while transiting Berlin...