>From Oakland to LA, it's nominally an hour of flying time. But if you add getting to the airport at least an hour early, usually two hours to make sure you get through horrific security screening, and then you add the time it takes to disembark and get home, another hour at least. Then, you're talking about more like four hours. Four very uncomfortable and expensive hours.
Those could be four very comfortable hours in a train.
Joanna
----- Original Message ----- Jordan: "HSR will never beat flying (except for a very few, special situations, none of which are at work in the CA/HSR scenario), and really shouldn't try."
[WS:] It depends how you look at this. Many people are mesmerized by speed regardless of whether they need it or not. If flying takes me 2 hours and a train takes 13 hours - then it is a no brainer. But if that train trip is reduced to, say, 4 hours - then it is a different story, especially if there is a meaningful difference in price. To illustrate, bus trip from DC to NYC takes about 5 hours and costs $35 round trip, and it is very popular despite the fact that both Amtrak and airlines offer faster but also more expensive alternatives.
So the fact that HSR is slower than flying is not necessarily a death sentence when other factors are considered.
Wojtek