Originally Posted by
jackal
AS isn't going to have to worry about this for at least the next four years. They may have won a grant with a few million bucks towards planning, but projects of this magnitude are only doable with federal funding, and the $billions to build it certainly aren't going to come under the new administration.
+1000, though I’ll add that the cost of mitigation for identified environmental impacts is likely to sink any efforts regardless of who’s ultimately ponying up the $$
Originally Posted by
jackal
FWIW, some European airlines have embraced partnerships with rail systems, offloading short-haul traffic to high-speed trains, which has shown to be more cost-effective than maintaining short-haul flights. It's possible U.S. airlines might follow a similar path if the infrastructure ever does become a reality.
iirc (late 1990s / early 2000s?) Continental and Amtrak flirted with code-sharing on some services to/from EWR, but (stupidly, imo) the agreement was limited to the conventional Northeast Corridor local trains and didn’t include Acela