FWIW, I have no connection with the auto industry, oil industry, etc. and I’m pretty skeptical about high speed rail. However, it might be worth a shot on the Boston to Washington corridor.
The obvious place to start is by putting a link between New York and Philadelphia. If you can get by all the NIMBYs in New Jersey, that is.
:shrug: It’s possible that proponents of high speed rail have multiple hurdles to overcome to make their case, e.g. that high speed rail is reasonable in terms of cost; that it’s reasonable in terms of speed; that it’s reasonable in terms of convenience; that the benefits to society outweigh the costs of implementing it; and that political compromises will not excessively undermine the above.
It doesn’t seem outrageous to me that a person should be skeptical on more than one of the above points.
And as long as we’re throwing ad hominems around, I will guess that a lot of support for high speed rail comes from swipples who hate the way that much of the middle class uses cars to insulate themselves from the lower classes.
ETA: Not that it really matters . . . what matters is the strength of the case for high speed rail, inedependent of the motivations of those who support it.
