I would refer the high-speed-rail types to James Kunstler's brilliant post 'financial crisis called off' where he reminds us...

We blather about high speed rail, but you can't even get from Cleveland to Cincinnati on a regular train - and what's more amazing, nobody is really interested in making this happen. All we really care about is finding some miracle method to keep all the cars running.

http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/08/financial-crisis-called-off...