[PugetSoundSoldier]

Nonsense! I've blown your delusional belief in peak oil out of the water so many times, I've lost count. We have nearly 3 CENTURIES of 100% of our petroleum needs (including fuel) right within the Continental US. Peak oil is a myth used by hucksters on the "greenie left" and fantasyland train riders like you.

Not to mention I've proven that vanpools and hybrids are more fuel efficient per passenger mile than trains. If you're so concerned about peak oil and energy efficiency, Willie, then you should support hybrids and vanpools as they consume even LESS energy per passenger mile than your precious trains.

Heck, for the $2.8 TRILLION it would take (at a minimum) to deploy high speed rail in the US, you could buy every family in America a $20,000 hybrid and STILL have money left over. And use about half the energy of your trains.

It's also telling that you don't dispute the costs. Apparently a $400+ per-trip subsidy is A-OK in your world! What could we do with that subsidy? That's a LOT of money - $4000 per weekday commuter, per week. Why not just pay them $2000 per week to stay at home - even smaller fuel costs, and it would be half the price!

What would it take to have the economic impetus to move from cars to trains, given this absurdly high subsidy? Well, assume 75 miles per trip, and let's assume 15 MPG for a big SUV with just a single passenger. You'll use 5 gallons of gas for that trip.

Gas could cost $75 per GALLON and it would still be cheaper to drive than pay for the train.

Face it, Willie: the economic realities simply do NOT bear out what you're pitching. It's economically insane to attempt high speed rail here in the US. You'd have to have gas over $75 PER GALLON, and everyone driving SUVs to even get close to the costs required for your dream.

We have oil (just not the political willpower - yet - to tap it), we have it at a low price, and we do not have the density nor population required to make high speed rail viable. You lose on all counts, Willie.

[RayChuang88]

And here's another thing that blows the Peak Oil idea away: we can soon make gasoline, diesel fuel and kerosene from oil-laden algae almost as cheap as extracting it from crude oil. And since oil-laden algae is a renewable resource, it means within 20 years there'll be no such as as Peak Oil anymore!

[PA Engineer]

Nonsense! I've blown your delusional belief in peak oil out of the water

I rarely agree with you, but I have to back you on all your points here. Sadly, Willie has issues with false gods and government control.

"DC" rail is also high maintenance to prevent damage to every other buried (pipeline) structure in the vicinity.

The only place I see any viability of HSR is on major airline hubs. Maybe, Philly to NYC, Boston to NYC, NYC to Chicago are economically viable. Economic viability means private funds and turning a profit.

[Sgt_Schultze]

More untapped potential energy

[Willie Green]

We have nearly 3 CENTURIES of 100% of our petroleum needs (including fuel) right within the Continental US.

Shale Oil and Tar Sands are very low quality petroleum deposits that require much more difficult and expensive methods of extraction than traditional oil. The simple fact that you have to hype them as some bogus indicator of bountiful petroleum based energy is evidence that depletion of traditional oil resources and Peak Oil theory is real.