Side note: a bit of context in that ABCNews story would be nice — while eight billion dollars sounds like a grand investment in high speed rail and unfortunately really does qualify as “the biggest commitment of its kind ever made by the federal government”, it also isn’t enough to build any one of the currently proposed lines in California (which has the most advanced plans) and doesn’t look particularly impressive in the context of routes under construction worldwide.  Which isn’t to say that its awful — it is far better than nothing — but only that excitement ought to be tempered by the realization that this is only a first step.

[Virginia intercity rail story via Daniel Nairn]