Hardly
Everyone up for massive taxpayer subsidy says their scheme is better. Duh.
That HSR is efficient is a complete myth. Advocates like to take the efficiencies of traditional rail (which is extremely efficient) and extrapolate them to HSR. Nothing could be farther from the truth. HSR is far more expensive to build, and an order of magnitude more expensive to operate and maintain. It's not even carbon efficient when compare to automobiles; it takes a remarkable amount of power to accelerate a train to over 100mph.
The fact that when in the hard light of day, an unsubsidized LA-SF HSR ticket would easily cost $500 or more should tell you all you need to know about this fraud.
BTW: I've traveled by HSR in Europe. I love it. It's great. But each time I do, it's with the knowledge that it's completely subsidized by the hapless middle-class European taxpayer who has a much lower standard of living than I do. Thanks guys!
