Why Not Blow $9 Billion on a Cool Train?

High-Speed Rail Would Be Great For California--If It Made Any Sense At All

California’s long love affair with cars is going sour. There is the price of gas. There are the crowded freeways. There is the internal combustion engine, which threatens the health of our children. What we need is a whole new relationship, one that will make us hip, exciting, and green.

That’s why Californians find themselves dreaming of trains. Their attraction isn’t to quotidian trains–light-rail or urban commuter trains. It’s certainly not to freight trains. All these are too stodgy, too utilitarian, and too available. They are not objects of desire.

Ah, but …