[quote=EconProf]The fatal flaw in high speed rail (and, arguably, all forms of mass transit) is ignoring the time to get from your house or apartment to the station, and then to get from the destination station to your job (or store, etc.)…plus the parking problem at the station. Americans love to go from their own driveway to the parking lot at their destination. This is a luxury we have that the Japanese, Chinese, and europeans envy.[/quote]

They may well counter at what cost? A landscape scarred by freeways, dependence on a fast disappearing natural resource, huge distances just to buy a newspaper, costs due to the necessity of multiple vehicles per household. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather use a car than be crushed in a metro, but on the other hand I’d much rather walk down a beautiful pedestrianized street than go out to eat in a car park. I would much rather be able to walk, or bike than have to get into a chunk of metal every time I need to go somewhere, that needs to produce enough energy to move something twenty times my own weight. The Chinese may not see this yet, but the Japanese and Europeans probably get it.

There’s pro’s and con’s on both sides, but is the question really about choice?