High Speed Rail

What's the deal with the U.S. and it's lack of high speed rail? (I guess really you could throw in public transit all together.) Sure, the U.S. is much larger than areas in Europe and East Asia where high speed rail is more available, but that doesn't explain the Northeast and the West Coast. There's no reason the D.C.-NYC-Boston corridor and the San Diego-LA-San Fran-Sacramento corridor shouldn't have service. Imagine if major routes like those (and others) had the option of high speed rail...even the slower high speed rail trains go about 120 mph. You could go from NYC to Boston in less than two hours compared to 4+ hours by car. Or LA to San Fransisco in three hours compared to 6+ driving.

I'm no transportation expert, but from my small research and knowledge, it seems like rail is cheaper and just as fast (if not faster) to use than planes, on trips involving a couple of hundred miles or less. No showing up 1 - 2 hours before your flight. Minimal/no security delays. Bigger and more comfy seats. Smoother and more quiet ride. Using electric instead of petrol for the fuel. What more can you want?

Or forget about city to city transit, that's an easy one. What about big city light rail? If there was actually practical rail transit available think how much traffic you could get rid of? Or how much time you could save not waiting in that traffic? Oh wait, that's right, if we did that my 45 minute commute from Suburbia to work wouldn't let me get in my Hummer by myself (I get 12 mpg @ $3+ per gallon. But I go grocery shopping once a week with my wife and two kids, so it's justified), go through the drive-thru at Starbucks, hurry up and make my way to the parking lot we like to call "Freeways" and creep along at 30 mph, then finally get to work and barely squeeze into the parking space (Hey, if I'm "on the line, I'm in", right? It doesn't matter if it's BOTH of the lines does it?). Oh yeah, I almost forgot, this commute time lets me catch up on all the phone calls and emails I've been meaning to get back to on my PDA.

I'm sure it's politics, it always is in the U.S. I'm not sure how happy the auto makers and the airlines would be if the government allowed potentially cheaper and more practical rail to be put into place. Oh, you bet there's some good ol' American culture in there messing things up too. We like our big cars and trucks. They make us feel "safe", they help our ego and they validate our status in culture. I know I just opened another credit card to help pay for the lease on an H3 that I use to pull my boat to lake once a month. I already use my H2 for commuting and I don't want to put any more wear-and-tear on it.