America is WAY behind when it comes to High Speed Rail. Europe and Asia are already reaping the benefits of their systems. Yeah, we have Acela, but Amtrak's Acela is not true HSR, at least, not in my mind. True HSR runs on dedicated tracks, averages faster than 150mph, and runs on voltage from an overhead wire.
Building HSR systems was cheap 30 years ago for the French. It was even cheaper 60 years ago for the Japanese. It's not so cheap for us today, but it will still be cheaper than 30 years from now. And even today, it's way cheaper than just building more freeways.
Besides, the more people using HSR (and public transportation in general) the fewer cars that will be on the road. That will not just lower auto emissions, but it will alleviate traffic jams too. It's a win-win. Whatever cost it takes to build the HSR system would be made up by the added efficiency in the freeways carrying fewer cars.
Right now, with the shift in government, a lot of Stimulus-funded rail projects are in jeopardy. Republican governors are vowing to kill the rail projects. Democratic governors want those unused funds when they are killed.
I think it's unfortunate that Wisconsin killed their HSR project, but at the same time, I hope that money comes to California, so we can get our rail system up and running that much faster.
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