Billions of our tax dollars go over seas to support Frances economy -

[Jeff]

There will never be a rail system that connects the East Coast to the West Coast. It's silly to even hope for such a thing. Not every city needs to be connected. Each state should develop their own network and then, maybe, go to the Federal level for interstate or international connections. That's an easier project to implement.

Back to NY, if NYS ever found the will to connect it's 4 major cities without the burden of stopping in every district that votes, that would be an amazing asset to NYS. Not only for the connectivity of cities but also the TOD development that would happen. No way in hell would you get Congress to foot the bill for that.

Agreed. Needs to be nonstop to just major cities. You lose the benefit of high speed if you can't actually get up to high speed.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Agreed. Needs to be nonstop to just major cities. You lose the benefit of high speed if you can't actually get up to high speed.

Send a memo to California. lol

[300miles]

Each state should develop their own network and then, maybe, go to the Federal level for interstate or international connections. That's an easier project to implement.

After all your arguing, you're basically agreeing with me that a integrated interstate system requires federal leadership. If you're just saying that's not likely to happen, I won't disagree. But even the state-level projects we see today in California and NYS only exist in the first place because they have seed investment from the Federal Govt. It may be true that a continental, federally planned rail system is unlikely to happen anytime soon, but it's also unlikely that any individual state would have a realistic rail plan of their own without federal involvement.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

After all your arguing, you're basically agreeing with me that a integrated interstate system requires federal leadership. If you're just saying that's not likely to happen, I won't disagree. But even the state-level projects we see today in California and NYS only exist in the first place because they have seed investment from the Federal Govt. It may be true that a continental, federally planned rail system is unlikely to happen anytime soon, but it's also unlikely that any individual state would have a realistic rail plan of their own without federal involvement.

No. I said states should build networks that provide benefits to the state. If the federal government wants to come in after and make connections, that's up to them. But if they didn't it would not take away from what the states did. There is a difference.

Honestly, the only way I ever see major improvements in HS rail is if it's done in the private market but that's pretty much impossible.