The broad gauge fiasco is a sadly enduring incarnation of transit gimmickry, the compulsive tendency in every generation to re-invent the wheel. Too bad it scarred BART for life, as the odd man out, the white elephant of mass transit. In a very real way BART had performed an important service - showing other new transit systems what not to do.

The question with the HSR is can you splice together 79mph railroads and a 200mph railroad and have a viable system. How many detours and extra stops can you add and still call it high speed? Seems to me the whole idea was compromised early on when they opted for the Palmdale detour.