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I don't really see fast long distance trains in the U.S. It's much harder to "secure" long stretches of track from sabotage. And it's so difficult to get around all of the freight, and you need to have much better built and maintained trackage for high-speed passenger travel, that you'd have to build separate tracks for the high-speed passenger stuff just like Europe and Japan did for their fast trains, and that will get very very very expensive in the large expanses of the U.S.. I can tell you by experience that Amtrak trains riding on most other railroad tracks (as opposed to having their own track and control) get held up so much by other traffic and waiting for clearances, that you can sit somewhere for over an hour. In those situations, it's not the speed of the train itself that holds them up. In short distances where Amtrak has their own track, and the comparable flight time is 1 1/2 hours or less, a train can be a viable solution, (especially if fuel costs stay at the current levels or increase). But not cross-country. For freight, I foresee some hybrid engines in switching and local jobs in the future (situations where there is alot of slow-speed movement, alot of stop-and-go, and some sitting around). By "hybrid", I'm referring to a locomotive powered by a bank of batteries, which is constantly charged by a relatively small engine (either diesel, gasoline, or maybe a bio-fuel like ethanol). This will greatly improve fuel efficiency, and the smaller engine will be quieter. In vehicle hybrid applications, one of the big limitations is the weight of the batteries. On a yard or local locomotive, that will actually be a benefit, so there will not be a need for lighter batteries (which are expensive), helping with the costs. Other than meeting upcoming EPA requirements, I don't expect long haul locomotives to change much in at least the next 20 years. Remote control, computer enhancement, GPS tracking, and dispatching might change, but I don't expect a change from the basic American diesel electric locomotive engine. And like someone already mentioned about the remote uncoupling, I also expect to see thngs like more wireless cameras being used on locals, to assist the engineer in operating the train. ---jps
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