This current crop of political nutjobs in DC should be kept as far away as possible from any rail-related subject, if for no other reason than they live in a fantasy world where tax receipts grow on trees and "green" jobs will save the day. Who'da thunk that Soviet-style socialism would become the predicated norm for the good ol' USA?

First of all, there is no reason on earth why freight and passengers can't share the same sets of rails. Highways, airways, and waterways all mix passengers and freight. The key is make sure the freight and the passengers are all moving at the same speed when using shared corridors, whether it be 50 mph or 150 mph. Secondly, the dedicated passenger/freight lines would be limited compared to freight-only lines. Thirdly, a high speed rail system would certainly draw looks from UPS/FedEx et al for time sensitive freight, so why should we hamstring ourselves by predicating HSR to passenger only proposals? Finally, no HSR system in the world could ever match the speed of flying, so passenger-only HSR is DOA in terms of actual improvement of transit time.

Personally, I'd rather see the freight railroads take back passenger service from the federal government, with some kind of passenger/mile tax credit to make it work.