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Comment by dimitrios1 | Hacker News Reader

Nope, requires a sane society that gathers around and does whats best for the collective whole. What we have, however, is a kleoptocracy, and being as such, the opportunity to extract more wealth, faster, and easier, existed with selling the promise of autonomous vehicles. If the same incentives existed for autonomous rail, it would have happened already.

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Let’s not be so cynical here. No amount of mustache-twirling evil robber barons would change the fact that for any nationwide rail system to be useful at a last mile, billions (if not trillions, if we’re talking coast to coast) of dollars of existing real estate and infrastructure would have to be bulldozed, or else you end up with California’s joke of a Central Valley rail that will never connect Los Angeles to San Francisco and recreate the Shinkansen miracle between Tokyo and Osaka.

In other words, the problem is not a matter of engineering (it can be built) or finance (it can be funded) - it’s politics.

> existing real estate and infrastructure would have to be bulldozed,

You mean like they've done with every beltway and interstate? They claim eminent domain, take whatever strip of land they need from you, and bulldoze anything in it's path to build nice fancy exits full of the same features: a few hotels/motels, gas stations, couple of fast food chains, and, perhaps, if you are fancy enough, a strip mall with a Department store, Sporting Goods, and a fine dining establishment from one of America's most recognized brands: Bloomin' or Darden

There was a push for something like that and it would have been great...it fell afoul of NIMBY and Toll road haters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Texas_Corridor Everyone in Austin hated SH-45 & 130 when they were built, they were practically empty for a few years to my delight as I could travel the entirety of Austin in a fraction of the normal time even during rush hours. After MOPAC was added residents began to see the light and the tollways are now congested. Many are regretting their opposition to Perry's lost/last road project but, that train has left the station unless Elon can get the Boring project going or Virgin is able to implement their version of Hyperloop. Hell, I'd have settled for elevated wire gondolas over the roads, works well enough for Australia.

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