Comment by jeffbee

America's only current, prominent bullet train is CAHSR and the goal of that project is not to speed up passenger rail. The project has nothing whatsoever to do with making existing rail riders happier or incrementally increasing ridership. The avowed purpose of CAHSR is to enable California to grow and prosper without having to build more airports and more freeways. So it's not really worth considering it as a choice between an expensive HSR on the one hand and slightly better Amtrak San Joaquin on the other. Only one of these projects would actually be suited to purpose.