The idea behind this response to the Call for Ideas is to share the experience of HSR development in China and Taiwan with those who are interested in the subject of how the HSR development in Los Angeles shall be shaped and formed. In terms of infrastructure development it took us three decades to build I-105 with a light rail system in the inter-state freeway, and it took us more than five decades to plan, debate and continue to debate on the last miles of I-701. One question for us is how fast we can move the California HSR which has a timeline imposed by the Fed for funding.
China and Taiwan have developed sophisticated HSR systems and their experiences are worthwhile for us in Southern California to learn. One experience from China for sharing is that the country is building its bullet trains in bullet speed.
This presentation is prepared by a team of 10 persons who are frequent patrons of the HSR systems in mainland China and Taiwan. As system riders the group has selected 7 representative HSR lines in China and 1 line in Taiwan as case studies for our readers.
This post was submitted by Edward Huang, PhD, AICP, CGBP, LEED AP.
