it’s about time

I’ve been gleefully following the inevitable arrival of high-speed rail in the USA. HERE’S AN ARTICLE FROM THE NY TIMES about competition between Japanese and Chinese contractors for the project.

In a way it’s quite pathetic that we’re still in the planning stages for this in 2010. (Is there a more logical country in the world for high-speed rail than the sprawling U.S.?) But even the first step against the “Cars Are Gods” culture of the United States comes as a welcome relief. The lack of a legitimate rail system in the United States has made my life tangibly worse. It’s quite easy to imagine how things would have been different if I could have travelled without headaches between American cities the way one can between European cities.