The Brits call it "HS2", a high speed rail line from London to Manchester and Leeds. For a mere $69 billion, a little less in Euro's. Network Rail, which does the tracks thruout Britain loves the idea, and so does the Dept of Transport.
But, Manchester and Leeds are only 150 miles from London, closer than New York is to Boston. Conventional rail can do 60 mph on decent track, and 100 mph with a little work on the track. The New York Central was running passenger trains at 100 mph, under steam, way back in the late 1800's. Properly operated conventional rail ought to make the London-Manchester run in three hours, fast enough to beat airline time. To fly, you gotta get to the airport an hour before takeoff, and wait for ever to recover your bags after landing. On the NYC-Boston run, Amtrak takes nearly four hours, running on conventional track laid 100 years ago, but it's faster than flying. Conventional British Rail ought to be able to beat airline time on the relatively short London-Manchester run.
So I wish our British brothers well, but I think they are pouring money down a black hole to do "high speed rail" over such a short distance.
P.S. Good luck California.
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