h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Having actually had the opportunity t oride the TGV(rare for an American) I firmly beleive that America needs some also, particularly running up and down the west coast, from, say Mexicali up to Vancouver, BC, with stps in Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, and any other deserving towns en route. If politcally necessary, the network could be expanded to cover other areas of the country, but if not, thats okay too.

What makes the TGV such an attractive alternative to the airplane in europe is that you get from city center to city center in less time than it takes to get to and from the airport. The US is generally too vast for even the TGV to compete with flying, but for some busy routes as SF-LA, or NYC-DC it would clearly be ideal. In fact there was a project w/ Alsthom for laying TGV lines between the 3 metropolises in Texas.

But a TGV is also an enormous investment, the kind that isn't made in the US for anything outside of defense.