[babyface00]

If you want to make a start on fixing the US's absurd transit system, start by getting freight off the roads.

I couldn't agree more.

Freight is an immensely simpler prospect to deal with than passengers.

Maybe its time to consider a separate freight delivery system that is on a smaller scale (which I presume would be easier to implement).

I'm thinking like some fraction of a semi-trailer (1/4, 1/5...) as a standard size, and an inter-city delivery system that could move those standard containers at very high speed.

At the right scale, such a rail system could fit in the median of major interstates that already exist between cities, and could be partially buried in a concrete ditch or run through an above-ground concrete tube so as to be covered for weather-resistance in areas that see snow and to maintain safety to/from nearby interstate traffic.

That leaves trucks and trains to do what they do best, and takes traffic off the interstates for passenger vehicles.

Such a system could be used by USPS, UPS, Fedex and DHL, as well as trucking companies to augment their infrastructure, much like they already use airports.

[John Locke]

I'm thinking like some fraction of a semi-trailer (1/4, 1/5...) as a standard size, and an inter-city delivery system that could move those standard containers at very high speed.

Good thinking. Europe has been doing just that for 20 years, and it works. Half-size container from truck to rail to truck. For bulk goods, you're done. For consumer goods, the truck delivers to a "distripark" from which the retailers pick up their share in vans.

There's a plan to extend this entire system across the full width of Eurasia. Details here.