[BrownTown]

I've been lurking this board forever, but I can't remember the last time I ever posted. However this idea has me so mad I just couldn't let it go. As an engineer the impracticality of his idea is just plain as day. Sure, it's not impossible, but the cost would be more like 250 Billion and decades, not 6 Billion or whatever he is trying to say now. This would be a "man on the moon" type of feat. High speed rail already exists and is more than good enough for the application at hand. Who ever really NEEDS to be somewhere RIGHT NOW and can't wait a few hours for a train or a plane? Maybe a billionaire's time like Elon Musk is worth the expense, but there is no need for 99.9% of the population to get somewhere so fast for this kind of price tag.

As for Elon Musk, I don't want to take away from any of his accomplishments, but the companies he runs are very niche markets and receive huge amounts of government backing. A transportation project is something that has to appeal to the masses and where local governments will fight you tooth and nail, not give you huge tax subsidies and incentives.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I have to openly wonder if this isn't just intended to sabotage the current high speed rail plans. Even if that isn't the case I fear that is all that will actually come of this. I have no problem with dreaming big, but people need to stop trying to compare one mans dream with the current technological reality. Of course dreams are always better, but we cannot, "let the perfect be the enemy of the good" in this case. The high speed rail, as expensive and flawed as it is, presents the best option for tying California and the North East Corridor together.