[Crawford]

A bullet train would unquestionably be cool, but does anyone seriously think it would be a remotely Japan-like scenario? In deep-red, truck-loving, postindustrial Ohio? Yeah, there would probably be some ridership, but OH has very little transit ridership, and it has heavy rail, right now, something few states have.

If there were really an OH bullet train, it would be deeply subsidized (by who? The right-wing state leadership?) and run a few trains a day. State is way too decentralized, balkanized and auto-oriented.

The primary problem in the U.S. isn't the lack of transit infrastructure, but the lack of transit orientation.