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

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Ah ok, I see what you’re getting at. I am at least 45 minutes (on a no traffic day) to downtown. Wife and I are heading to NYC in February and I was looking into different ways to reach Times Square from LaGuardia, most likely will just take a cab/uber but it will be about a 30 minute ride according to Google Maps.

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30m on a good day. It’s taken me upwards of an hour to get from LGA to Manhattan before.

But anyway, like I said, it’s just part of the consideration. I’ve far more examples I could cite abroad, but to stick to domestic, years ago I took the Acela Express from DC to NYC. Showing up at Union 15m before your train leaves and walking out of Grand Central beats the frick out of driving out to DCA at least an hour before your flight to then land at JFK, LGA, or EWR and having to drag arse into the city from there. And that’s not even taking into consideration how much more pleasant train travel is than air.

It’s by no means a panacea, but in areas that it makes sense, it’s a hell of a thing.