I have to say that my wife works on high speed rail planning and modeling over here in France. Just yesterday she told me that her company will likely get a contract to do some modeling for the Florida high speed rail project. It is kind of ironic that Obama puts some stimulus dollars towards high speed rail, and then those dollars head over to France to do the actual studies. Well, I guess it makes sense since there are more companies experienced in rail here than in the USA.

High speed rail will be a reality in the US, it will just take time. I tried to get some actual numbers from my wife, like how much a new line costs per mile here in France, but she couldn't say for sure. One line she has worked on that goes to Italy is insanely expensive because there are numerous tunnels involved to pass the Alps. I don't think that will be a problem in Ohio or Florida. Anyway, the 8 billion is a good start, and will get the things in motion. A lot of people seem to be complaining that this is not enough, however, that is how these things work, no project ever gets funded completely at the beginning.