…is born in Florida.
I think a high-speed rail between LA and Vegas could potentially make sense, if they tunnel through the mountains.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Here’s an older article about the project. The FEC line runs a couple miles blocks from the house we own in Boca Raton.
All Aboard Florida will be the first private intercity passenger rail service in America since 1971
that statement is incorrect
>The Southern Crescent was one of the two last privately operated long-distance passenger services in the United States. The other was the Rio Grande Zephyr, which operated until 1983. But, revenue losses and equipment-replacement expenses forced Southern Railway to leave the passenger business and turn over operation of the train to Amtrak on February 1, 1979<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_(train)
The Southern Crescent and Rio Grand Zephyr both started private operations in 1970, so perhaps the reference is that this is the first private railroad startup going back to 1971, though the previous startups continued to operate past that date.
No, both were private operations from the start, as were railroad passenger trains, other than the federally owned Alaskan Railroad. When the Rio Grande portion of Zephyr ended operation it marked the first time since the 1830’s there were no private passenger rail service in the U.S.
AFAIK in the US railroads were private enterprises. One of the ways they gained money in the beginning was from generous US government land grants or expropriations of private land. So it was in fact financed by real estate speculation at the time. For a while this plus passenger revenue was enough to ensure the financial viability of these companies. But as US highways improved rail became less and less competitive. In the end these private companies went bankrupt and Amtrak picked up the pieces.
So we come to today. I still think high-speed rail is a good idea having experienced it when I was in France. It is a heck of a lot more convenient than aircraft for traveling say 300-600 km. Theoretically it is also more energy efficient than an aircraft. Is it good for anywhere and everywhere? No. You need enough passengers or the thing won’t pay for itself. It also needs to be faster than a car or the whole thing is pointless. In the US the Northwestern Corridor and California are obvious places to put high speed rail. Across the whole continent it doesn’t make a lot of sense since the population density is low and the speeds aren’t good enough.
What I wish you had more of in California was light rail. SF has some of that I guess but LA is still a bit of a nightmare if you are just visiting and didn’t bring you car. And if you did bring your car the traffic is horrible.