Looking forward to more articles along these lines.
Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Value Versus Effort: How Much Time to Write a Blog Post?

(a) There are plenty of planning and financing risks in the California HSR project. The California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) wisely decided to leverage already-proven off-the-shelf steel wheels technology from either Europe or Asia rather than pile risk on top of risk by choosing magnetic levitation or worse, developing something brand-new.

Ergo, the trains and tracks will be special and dedicated to HSR. However, they will not require any technological breakthroughs.

(b) CHSRA has already decided that all trains on the network it is planning will run on renewable electricity, i.e. wind, solar, geothermal, small hydro and/or fuel (e.g. methane) produced from agricultural and other organic waste streams. This will make a small direct contribution to AB32 goals, on top of the much larger indirect contribution of avoiding additional road and air traffic based on fossil fuels.

Except for the construction of the line and trains, the carbon footprint of California HSR as such will be essentially zero. With diligent operation and maintenance, trainsets remain in operation for around 40 years. Rails last 20-40 years depending on traffic volume and maintenance, the concrete support structures can easily last for more than a century if they’re not destroyed by an earthquake or fire.

Note also that electric trains are the original zero tailpipe emission vehicles. Batteries not included since they are not needed.