> The Ohio governor only likes low speed passenger rail for his state.


Actually, you might think he doesn't like low speed passenger trains either; as the Ohio proposal was for conventional Amtrak trains; along with the track upgrades necessary to do the usual 79mph max in more places. 110mph was to come only later on. But to be fair, who knows what he would have liked, if his state was not broke and already about to default.

Of course, some would have whined anyway, that 110mph is not "True High Speed". But then again, 180-200mph ain't either - when compared to 350mph airplane speeds. Fact is though, that 106mph was high speed enough for the Japanese when they started the Shinkansen, which was then mostly on upgraded existing track for quite a long time.

Later on, more and more trackage capable of higher and higher speeds was constructed, all while they provided superior passenger service and collected lots and lots of revenue.

Since they were quite successful they way they did it; 79-110mph trains on upgraded existing track ought be quite fast enough as well, for the good ol' USA to start with. And since the purpose of Obama's plan was to get it all going as quickly as possible, as an economic stimulus, his original proposal was for just that - new 79 to 110 mph passenger trains - something history says is actually doable relatively quickly.

Too bad that the ninnies in California and Florida, with their extravagant impossible planning; have distracted us, and most of the 8 billion in F.R.A. seed money, from the only viable way to get 'er done (the Japanese way).

So what did we actually get instead - NOTHING! -- No stimulus effect, and no trains either.

Just billions in state and federal money pittered away - no wonder some governors are starting to get grumpy! HSR ain't got a good track record so far. The odds of success are obviously pretty slim just now, especially with extravagant plans such as in California.

Oh well! As they say in baseball - there's always next year!