With respect to OlePoleBurner's succinct synopsis, I must again point out that there is no historical or anthropological support for the idea that HSR (or any rail-related concept) is the logical replacement for the automobile should liquid hydrocarbons become hard to get. Remember, the automobile replaced the horse & buggy as the prefered INDIVIDUAL transportation system. Railroads and other mass transit concepts do not play into that equation. The free market and human ingenuity will NOT condone any genuine move from the auto to HSR, but rather will find some other source of INDIVIDUALIZED system of transportation should the unthinkable occur.

Mass transit of human beings for the most part only works for slaves and brain-dead emasculated masses. Mass transit is the antithesis of individualism (which itself is the primary reason for the existance of the USA in the first place). It can only be justified if there is a suffcient aggregation of like-minded individuals who wish to travel to and from the same points at roughly the same time, and must incorporate the right of free will to do so.