Imagine that you had to travel from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles in a hurry. What mode of transportation would you choose? You could travel by airplane, but you would likely be forced to deal with the hassle of acquiring tickets, traffic delays to and from the airport, and numerous security delays within the airport. You could travel by automobile, but that would mean eight hours of time spent sitting behind a steering wheel staring at miles and miles of asphalt. You could choose a more scenic route and "ride the rails", but if you took Amtrak's coastal route, for example, your trek would last nearly twelve hours. By Amtrak's inland route, which requires transfer to a bus link in Bakersfield, your trip would take about nine hours.
Dilemmas such as this could soon be abated if the California Intercity High Speed Rail Commission is granted its wish. …
