I mean, first of all, doesn't it make more sense that there's more money to extract from the LA<->Vegas line? And second, Amtrak can't force CSX to upgrade its rail, and Amtrak sure as hell ain't paying.

There's loads of billionaires out there now with more money than sense. Get together a PAC, lobby them to fund high-speed rail upgrades, name a rail station after them or something.