[Ghoulish Delight]

$20 each way? Unless you were riding with 2 people I think you might have misread the fare or missed a cheaper way. I made it from Orange to LAX for < $10 via rail and bus, with relative ease (and in less time than it would have taken to drive in mid-day traffic.

I'm fully aware that the high speed rail is impractical, overpriced, and wasteful. But so was the Brooklyn Bridge. I'm okay with a bit of impracticality if it's paid back, even in intangible ways. And in my opinion, the rail has a chance of doing that. California relies on tourism, and as a state hasn't done much of late to keep itself in the tourist spotlight. I love novelty factor of the train. It'll draw attention, and it'll (hopefully) continue the momentum that the concept of train (and other transit) has gained here recently, which we sure as hell need more of (LA transit is a ways away from good, but it's take huge leaps forward).

Do it because it's nifty, damnit! What's wrong with nifty every once in a while?

Of course I have no doubt that the leadership is perfectly capable of turning it along the way from comically impractical to bankruptily disasterous. But if the risk of failure keeps us from trying anything overreaching ever again, than we're pretty well doomed.