# American High Speed Rail is a Terrible Idea **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 4, 2021, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-high-speed-rail-is-a-terrible-idea/939404 "2021-04-04T21:11:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 287
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-high-speed-rail-is-a-terrible-idea/939404/287 "2021-04-09T14:19:43Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > > > Then why choose to title the thread “ _American High Speed Rail is a Terrible Idea_ ”? > > So Sam can argue with himself apparently. I mean, first sentence of the OP: > > > [@](#): > > > > Let’s talk about this new push for high speed rail. > > Whose new push? Whose argument exactly is the OP countering? Who said what that Sam heard? We don’t know! And now he’s picked up his toys and left the playpen. This is just mystifyingly weird. > [@eschereal](#): > > I get the impression that the current US administration is working on [a $2T infrastructure plan](https://www.npr.org/2021/04/01/983470782/by-the-numbers-bidens-2-trillion-infrastructure-plan) that includes $80B for rail improvements and $100B for High Speed Broadband. Perhaps those two things became conflated with each other? Maybe this will help: > [@Buttigieg caught staging a blatant photo Op. (Debunked)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttigieg-caught-staging-a-blatant-photo-op-debunked/939340/53): > > And I’m calling them out for it. You have a problem with that? The U.S. has the best rail freight system in the world. The reason it does is because it is private and because freight doesn’t often share track with passengers. Freight routing can therefore be optimized. And freight makes much more sense to send by rail than passengers. In Europe those passenger trains you love had the effect of pushing freight onto the roads, making freight delivery less efficient, causing more road wear… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-high-speed-rail-is-a-terrible-idea/939404)._