High speed rail brings to mind railroad mania in the Midwest prior to the Civil War. In the 1830's the State of Illinois drew up maps of where the routes would go. Illinois proceeded to go into debt to build them. The panic of 1837 burst the bubble. Railroad construction halted. The State of Illinois struggled with its railroad debt.
Eventually, the economy improved. Railroad building resumed, but was largely done by private companies. Many companies did receive financial assistance from local governments through which they built.
It is doubtful private companies will build new right of ways for a high speed rail network. Will governments return to build the network when the economy improves?
First, look at the source of the story: Rupert Murdochs's London based World Telegram. It therefore has to be suspecious in the minds of intellegent readers of anything. That not withstanding, there is probably a certain amount of "buyers remorse" as is noted in the story. But the results are certainly sensationalized. And besides that, it is old news; there is great concern for the real need and use of a so called Bullit Train. High speed train of some kind, yes, Bullit not necessarily. Californians to use it, probably few. But that does not eliminate its need and overall usage.
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A new poll shows almost three fifths would oppose the bullet train and halt public borrowing if given another chance to vote.
Almost seven in 10 said that, if the train ever does run between Los Angeles and San Francisco, they would "never or hardly ever" use it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9310511/Buyers-remorse-for-Californias-bullet-train-to-nowhere.html
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