Finally! Someone has chosen to attempt to equal what is now and has been available in Europeand Asia for some time now. What a way to move us forward onthe world stage. More Europeans/Asians will have a much more easy visit when visiting our country and we can stand with the other grerat tourist destinations of the world. How can we continue to say that we are the greatest country inthe world if our system of national rail transit is represented by AMTRAK who only leases the tracks and is contantly an embarassment both in on time arrival and service. Just the customer service of the conducters alone makes one not want to travel by train.

I'm also from Portland, and can say firsthand that rail makes sense. It particularly makes sense to un-clog freeways and increase urban development where rails runs through cities.

I'm so thankful to see a president look outside our border to identify best practices we too may implement. As someone who has traveled extensively, I so believe in the dream our high speed rail efforts will develop beyond the Northeast, that rail markets will be opened to competition (i.e. force Amtrak to innovate and compete), and that many citizens will be freed by the car owning burdens necessitated by poor infrastructure and championed by automotive lobbyists.

I've been car free since 2003 and never have thought twice about whether I should switch back.

EM

Wow, some sense. That's a change.
Way to go Barack.

Now how's about local rail? Automated, low-maintenance, never stopping, never slowing down, closed-circuit. With pick-up/let-go stations, like that chinese concept.
That'd be most awesome.