One of the arguments in favor of HSR in medium-distance markets (up to 400 miles or so) is the capacity - would require many more 737/A320-type aircraft to provide equivalent capacity than it makes sense to fly. Lots of other arguments, too, that have less to do with air-competitive capacity. But the fundamental air-competitive capacity argument gets harder to make when wide-body planes become practical (it's not practical to operate a 767 in short-distance shuttle service). This Russian proposal looks potentially interesting for some of the "shuttle" markets served by Southwest and others. Instead of incrementally boosting capacity by squeezing in another 8-10 seats in a 737, they could haul 300+ (more than double the passenger load) at, arguable, near-737 operating costs. Some green-eyeshade type will notice, and HSR will have a harder time with the end-to-end timing and capacity arguments.

[www.cnn.com]