High Speed trains

There is another, orthogonal dimension that is just as important.

Japan is a tiny DENSE country, slight smaller than California. 

(With close to 3x the population of CA)

So you effectively have MORE tax dollars in the same space. Demand is effectively3x higher.

The Amtrak/fragmentation is only a tiny part of the problem.

It would be absurd and insanely expensive to run high speed from NYC to LA.

You would have too many stops in the middle, and not high enough density.

BUT the density equation is HIGH ENOUGH for the Boston - NYC - DA Corridor. And they have begun higher express (still not HIGH SPEED)

Portland - Seattle makes sense, but no money was put up to make it real.

(Madison - chicago - saint louis - corridor has plans .... all about funding)

You would thing that SD - LA - SF corridor would be another candidate.

And "subsidies" is a bullshit argument.

The roads are MASSIVELY subsidized.

Fuel Oil is MASSIVELY subsidized. 

Air travel is massively subsidized. 

(Those airports weren't free)

In the end, it is density and travel time.

Japan's has 45 of the top 50 stations in the world.

Yokohama has 2 million passengers; a DAY.

Funding/Costs - Dimension 

A) we under fund

2) we under charge for car driving into city centers. (London charges tolls for driving into city which reduces cars, and that cash, goes into the trains and busses!!!)