When oh when are we going to get something like this here in the US? I know that the fact that the US is vastly bigger than Spain or France or Germany makes comparisons a little difficult, but my feeling is that a 220mph train a la Europe would have a lot of fans all over the country.

While flying will still be marginally faster, the evidence is strong that many people will choose to stay firmly on the ground, given the choice. On a similar route between Madrid and Seville that is already in operation, more than 80% of travelers choose the train.

You could imagine something like this doing well connecting Chicago and NYC or Washington DC to NYC. You could also see how people might want to take it across the southwest — like a Phoenix to Houston express or something. Of course, it would definitely take government intervention/stimulus to actually bring it about, and for that we’ve got to have a change in political priorities.