Yup. The State Of California for half that money could buy every resident of the state a lifetime pass on the state’s airlines, which could ferry them inexpensively to any destination they choose.
People don’t want to sit three hours on train waiting to get someplace. Before civil aviation emerged, there was no other way to connect the country. Today, long-distance passenger trains in America are a relic of the past.
They are not what we need today.
Just look at the physics of the problem. If I am going to be in an aluminum tube hurtling along at hundreds of miles an hour, do I want that aluminum tube to be five miles up in the air, where there is nothing to hit, or down at ground level, where there are all sorts of things to hit?
High speed rail might make sense for trips that are too short for aircraft, maybe up to 200 miles or so. For anything longer, there are better, cheaper, safer, less polluting and more comfortable alternatives.