Originally Posted by
WindowSeat123
Yes, I agree politics is the bigger obstacle to High Speed Rail in the US. The reasons you cite all have been made by various far-right politicians and fox news pundits. Most of the reason given above by these anti-rail folks by the way make absolutely no sense whatsoever if you think about it. By their perverse logic, Eisenhower's interstate highway system would probably never have been constructed because of the "upfront" cost.
Politics aside, the economic equation for high speed rail never ends in a positive number.
The population density is too thin, and the distances are too great. America is not Japan.
That is why no private company will make the effort to create a high speed train with current technology.
The federal investment for the Eisenhower interstates made good economic and political sense, as the repayment to positive value was accomplished early, and the benefits were spread across the country in a more-or-less even fashion.
The immense tax dollar transfer from Americans who will never any benefit from a high speed rail line from DC to NYC to the politicos and bankers who would benefit from such a line will never receive support from any state senator or representative outside of Connecticut, New York or Maryland.
I love riding trains, but even so I am enough of a rational economic consumer that I would never support such a project in the US based on current technology and costs. When Elon Musk's Amaz-O-Train (or some other analog) proves out to be economically viable and technologically achievable, then I will be happy to support it.