[melling]

It could take 10 years or it could take 20 years. Wouldn't 10 years be better for everyone? China has a "can do" attitude. We seem to have a lot of obstacles in the US. Attitude is definitely one of them. The Manhattan project and the Kennedy moon challenge couldn't be done today. A skunkworks methodology goes a long way:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk_Works

[loceng]

The way it seems to best get things done is have an economic benefit that competes with the status quo, and then those who control mass amounts of money will put their money into it to then gain long-term via profits - which unfortunately then makes the cost higher that would otherwise be lower if it was government-people funded first.

[melling]

Yes that's why I gave you China's motivation. It would connect their two largest cities and China is a big believer in high-speed mass transit.

[loceng]

Good point. China has money to spend in comparison to the U.S. - most of the money the U.S. has spent has been on war, while China's been collecting money from the world. It will be interesting to watch how the landscape shifts in the next few decades.