I often tell the story of the German government who got all hyper about some bullet-train scenario....so they signed up to a test plan....building a special stretch of track that would extend from Koln to Frankfurt’s airport (118 miles roughly). When they finished, it was a positive deal in terms of time...62 minute ride.
Cost of a one-way ticket? Well....this got into an interesting situation. They agreed to run it every thirty minutes. The deal ended being roughly $100 in Euro (one-way). A normal train fare would have been in the $30 range (one-way). Business travelers had some interest but they never got real passenger ‘love’ for the situation.
I look at this San Francisco situation and kinda wonder....who is so fired up to race down to LA? The two-way trip would have to run a minimum of $150...maybe dipping into the $100 for a 4AM run. Are there like forty flights a day hustling folks back and forth between the two cities?
What happens when THE BIG ONE splits the track into scores of parts?