When the decidedly anti-rail Congress eliminated future funding for high-speed rail late last week, California's bullet train looked to be running out of track real fast. Although House Republicans were eagerly taking credit for killing Obama's "misguided" national high-speed rail network, there's still plenty of hope for California's HSR project. more ›

The headlines today and yesterday are all blaring the fact that, according to new estimates, the cost of the San Francisco-to-Anaheim high-speed rail line will now be closer to $100 billion, up from an original projection in 2008 of $43 billion. But the fact is that the new estimates call for greater phasing of the project over 20 years, and adjustments for inflation are largely responsible for the uptick. more ›

Bicyclists. They ruin everything. Like, for example, your morning commute. As the SF Examiner dutifully points out, a heated round of words between a bicyclist and a Caltrain conductor delayed service by a shocking 10 minutes this morning. "Police were called to the San Carlos station around 9 a.m. The bicyclist was reprimanded for riding on the platform, which is prohibited, and got into it with the conductor." more ›

At around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, an Amtrak train traveling 15 to 20 mph collided with another train unloading passengers in Jack London Square at at Webster Street and Embarcadero. At least 18 passengers (or 16, according to HuffPo) were injured as a result of the crash. Most of the injuries were "bumps and bruises" with one girl suffering a broken arm. more ›

As we've discussed, there are some well-off folks on the Peninsula who would like to see the California high-speed rail project die — or at the very least get re-routed over a new bridge across the Bay which will never be built. Well, as it happens, they're not the only ones gearing up for their days in court! A group of farmers, farm advocates, and towns in Kings County are getting ready to submit their comments to a draft environmental review, and they're planning to fight to the death over the loss of "thousands of acres of prime farm land between Fresno and Bakersfield." As California Watch reports, delays or discussion of rerouting the train in this central segment could derail the entire project, because construction needs to start there soon if federal stimulus cash isn't going to get forfeited. more ›

While California looks for additional funding to cover the $43 billion price tag on our high-speed rail project, Florida Governor Rock Scott recently turned down $2.4 billion in federal dollars for a similar project in his state. We're going to go ahead and assume Florida's non-retired population is perfectly happy traveling by swamp boat or whatever it is they do. As for the snowbirds - well, they probably realized they won't be around long enough to see the project come to fruition anyway. No skin off our back though, Florida's funds will be divvied up amongst the 15 other states with HSR projects and $300 million of it will land in California's coffers. more ›

The crucial 77-mile line that hauls an estimated 40,000 passengers during the weekdays could be in danger. Scratch that, it is in danger. A $30 million shortfall will ebb away at almost half the lines. Grim, yes? What's more, it will do away with weekend service altogether, effectively eliminating service to weekend SF Giants games. (If you live in Mission Bay/South Beach, you know that hordes or orange-and-black-bedazzled fans pour out of the station on the weekends. Losing that link to the Peninsula would be disastrous, traffic-wise, attendance-wise, and paying-$25-for-parking-during-a-game-wise.) more ›

Everyone touts Europe and Japan as being so awesome for their high-speed rail lines, and America as being backwards for having only one (the Acela line between Boston and D.C., and even it's not the fastest). But aren't there a few practical reasons for why more such lines don't exist here? Namely that the metropolitan areas between which people might prefer to take a train over a plane are just too damn far apart? more ›

UPDATE II: Muni finally got back to SF Appeal regarding the snafu explaining that Muni doors are not like elevator doors -- never try to keep them from closing because it damages the doors, and people, apparently. But what if the driver doesn't give exiting passengers enough time to get off?! more ›

A pedestrian was hit by a Caltrain in South San Francisco this morning. "The incident was reported at 9:39 a.m. just north of the South San Francisco Caltrain station." No further details are available. We'll update as soon as we know more. [ABC 7] more ›

This story, which occurred in Folsom (east of Sacramento), reads like something right out of a movie. On Monday evening, 17-year-old Todd McHugh of Citrus Heights saw a car swerve, veer off the road, and then get stuck on the Folsom light rail track. When McHugh ran over to the car, he saw that the driver had fallen asleep for a second and was in a daze, and her 7- and 10-year-old daughters were in the backseat. He quickly helped the woman out of the car, and she unbuckled the kids. more ›

Vanessa Hunt, 55, of Oakland died Wednesday while running to cross the train tracks. Hunt, it seems, "tried to beat the train and run across the tracks, bypassing lowered crossing barriers at 85th and Railroad avenues," reports the Oakland Tribune. The woman was whisked to Highland Hospital where she succumbed to internal injuries. This most recent train-related fatality comes on the heels of Amtrak launching a new safety campaign, billed as The Common Sense Campaign, to reduce the number of pedestrians hit by trains. more ›

We've always wondered whether BART was as likely a terror target as the New York City subway system, and always suspected that no, it isn't. But you may have noticed some stepped up security patrols on trains, complete with bomb sniffing dogs, the likes of which we haven't seen since around October/November 2001. more ›

KTVU has some choice footage of last Saturday's Muni crash over on King Street near AT&T Park. Since major news networks inexplicably don't believe in the religion of Embedded Code, we are forced to link to it here. (Oh, and then you have to click on "RAW VIDEO: Watch Muni Surveillance Footage Shot On Trains Involved In Collision.") If some kind soul wants to upload or find us the same footage, YouTube- or Flickr Video-style, we'd be most appreciative. Forget KTVU and their pre-commercialed footage. Here it is uninterrupted! more ›

Last Saturday's T-Third meets N-Judah collision might be, according to to investigators, might have been the result of a speeding Muni driver and/or someone chatting on their cell phone. KCBS reports: more ›

An astonishing twelve passengers were sent to the hospital on Saturday after a T-Third train slammed into the back of a two-car N-Judah. The accident happened near AT&T Park on King Street between Third and Fourth streets, and none of the injuries were life-threatening. Allegedly. more ›

This weekend's Muni news spans both ends of the Kinsey scale: for straight people, football; for the gays, Cirque du Soleil. Of course, gays are also allowed to like sports. (All those bulging uniforms! And the cheerleaders! Mmmmm.) And if the Republican party has taught us anything, it's that straight married men secretly adore, and aspire to be, limber fags in spandex. The Cirque will be performing in the parking lot of AT&T park, which... more ›