re: Can high speed rail work in the United States?

No.

This is due to a multitude of reasons, but here are a few:

1. The progressive wing would make anything economically infeasible based off the supposed environmental impact alone. Could you imagine how many groups would lose their shite over each snail or bush species possibly impacted?

2. Our government (at every level) is incapable of building this in a way that would be economically feasible. We have lost the ability, as a society, to perform projects like this.

3. The length of time to build this would probably be 20 years. How long does it take to build one mile of interstate? California broke ground on theirs in 2015. They have no projected completion date for phase 1, let alone phase 2.

In summation, our society and governmental structure is broken to the point where public works projects are economically infeasible and, when started, will never be completed due to the administrative and bureaucratic nightmare that is the USA.

That doesn’t even touch on the fact that rail stations are so far removed from city centers that it wouldn’t make sense without adding additional tram lines or transportation that would likely cost billions more and add timelines that would also never be completed.