The US has a concept of eminent domain, which it has used in the past to build fairly fast affordable rail (and highways). There's no reason it can't work today except the fact our politicians are owned by car lobbiests.

We've should have nationalized high speed rail the same way we have a nationalized interstate highway system. Not everything needs to be privatized for profit.

When they put up highways, they very *very" often bulldozed through poor black neighborhoods. They didn't care.

I don't suggest we start doing that again, but the US had and has the capability to build out a fantastic trail system, but the highway system is lobbied for hard by car manufacturers.

AMTRAK gets like an eighth of the federal funding that roads get.

How profitable are highways?