[jameskilton]

And don't forget that our current "solution" ... AmTrak ... is probably the worst public train system in the developed world. I've had the pleasure of riding the ICE and as an American who never knew such a train service, it was awesome.

If we could break a few misconceptions, setup a high speed corridor along the east coast, along the west coast, and a few cross-country lines through the north and south, we could have a fantastic rail system. But that's gonna take a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and money, and the chances of it completely happening are slim to none, but there's more and more push at least for an eastern corridor line.

[masklinn]

> And don't forget that our current "solution" ... AmTrak ... is probably the worst public train system in the developed world.

In absolute, that's true. When you take in account their limitations, mandates and everything however, they're really doing pretty good. Amtrak has pretty been much treated as an enemy (of everybody) from the start, doesn't help.

[aidenn0]

Yeah, I don't have the numbers, but I would bet a that AmTrak gets far fewer government dollars per passenger-mile than any western european rail system.

[dotcoma]

I had a very pleasant (though not high speed) ride from Santa Barbara to San Diego via LA Central 10 years ago.