There is something about this story that reminds me of high-budget, high-stakes software projects, that try to go too far beyond what's been done before, and end up inevitably way over budget and way late, if they ever complete at all.
Not sure I agree. The west coast has large metro areas not too far from each other (SF/LA, Seattle/Portland/Vancouver), lots of sparsely-populated land in between, a bit of an adventuring spirit, and a relatively laid-back culture. These seem like a good fit for trains. And they aren’t even going through the mountainous regions
There's nothing about this particular route (SF to LA) that would preclude a high speed train.
The mistakes were: capitulating to interests whose use of the system will be small and negatively affects the majority of riders, and the belief that anybody will ever be able to get a train from San Jose to SF in less than half an hour.
take a look at the route- it goes on the same track as Caltrain, which moves far slower- in a densely populated area that cannot accomodate additional track.
