[minnesota_bound]

Take a plane ride from New York to Miami to get there much quicker and for less money. A quick search brought up $46 one way to $104 round trip cost. Flight time one way about 3 hours. Car rental about $30 and up per day.

Price for modes of transportation:
http://www.wikihow.com/Travel-from-Miami-to-New-York

Train is about 30 hours or 10 times longer then a plane.
Woo! Woo!

Spend $100 billion like Jerry Brown wants to in California and still not have high speed and not be anywhere as quick as a plane.

[Publius]

The idea behind a train is to stop at intermediate points to pick up and let off passengers. Few take the train from New York to Miami. Instead they board at Fredericksburg (VA) to go to De Land (FL). This is the advantage that a train has over a plane. Because of the intermediate stops, the coach seats and sleeping compartments are sold and occupied over and over during the length of the trip. That's why the long distance trains are true cash cows, especially after you subject allocated costs from the Northeast Corridor that Amtrak inserts into their financial statements.