[CamperBob2]

Airplanes are even faster... yet it's possible to drive from LA to SF in less time than it would take to fly, even if you never break the present-day speed limits. Remember, it's not fair if you count the distance from one city limit to another. You have to consider the time it takes a given passenger to get from their home or business to their end destination.

Also, all it will take is one (un)lucky 9/11-style terrorist attack, and everything we've come to know and love about air travel and the TSA will instantly apply to the train station. This is a matter of "when," not "if."

Finally, there's also a hidden economic cost associated with fixed tracks, similar to the costs/risks borne by someone who buys a house. They're stuck there. A homeowner might like to move to a nearby city to take a better job, but oops, they're still underwater on their mortgage. Likewise, locations and other trends in urban economic development shouldn't be biased by a decision made 50 years earlier regarding where to put the train tracks.

It's better to stay agile, and trains are perhaps the least agile things humanity has ever built.