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.