A train that travels at 220mph? Yes, please!

Alex Davies explains:

This map was put together by California Rail Map, led by Alfred Twu, which combined existing proposals from high speed rail advocacy groups around the US.

The US High Speed Rail Association, a nonprofit trade association, predicts a network similar to this one could be in place by 2030.

Transporation Secretary Ray LaHood has called for a large HSR network, saying it could link 80 percent of Americans within 25 years, for $500 billion.

Based on this map, starting in Los Angeles, a high speed train could get to New York, with stops in Denver and Chicago, in well under 18 hours.

Considering the significant funding and political will any large rail project needs, it's hard to imagine all this will be built. But Robert Cruickshank at the California High Speed Rail Blog argues just visualizing the network is a good thing:

But before the Interstate Highway System was authorized, it had to first be conceptualized on a map. This map gets us closer to the goal of an interstate high speed rail system by showing us what it looks like. And envisioning such a system is the first step toward building it.

Visualizing is an important step to doing.

But the Interstate highway system was conceptualized by the Army, and the guy who did most of the work (just after WWI), just happened to be POTUS (Eisenhower!) when he pushed it thru Congress......

So what you're saying is that the only way this happens is if the Pentagon and the post-Obama POTUS push hard for it?