I hear you, but: - what’s the demand for travel from Birmingham to Chicago? - what’s the ecological cost of laying rail from Birmingham straight north? We co

I hear you, but: - what’s the demand for travel from Birmingham to Chicago? - what’s the ecological cost of laying rail from Birmingham straight north? We could subsidize a lot of plane flights / busses on existing highway infrastructure before it makes sense to lay down rail, even between Birmingham and Nashville. And it looks like Birmingham > Nashville is a < 3 hour car ride. So would most people want to drive to a train station, wait at the train, then take the train 1.5 hours (assuming high speed at 140 mph) then deal with last mile transit / car rental in Nashville? Never mind that train route runs right through Franklin, which has insane property costs and I can imagine NIMBY-ism going on, so you’d have to route around it. The cost for a high speed rail is estimated at $154 million per mile, which would be $30 BN to build the segment between Birmingham and Nashville. Then it’s a billion dollar soft target, so security and terrorism are a concern, especially being the first example of high speed rail in middle America. It would take one extremist with a rifle to shut it down / reduce ridership. They wouldn’t even have to hit anyone, just shoot at it as it went past one of the many fields. And at 30 BN, you won’t ever see the ROI, and it would require federal funding - which many would ask why someone in Montana should pay for rail transport in between Birmingham and Nashville, and it would probably die before funded. The government spends $315 Million to subsidize small airports around the country per year, which may be a more effective use of tax payer dollars. All that said, I understand why you want someone to solve this problem - it would open up all sorts of towns for lower cost of living in Nashville / surrounding cities. Especially if it was subsidized for riders. If the hyper loop becomes a thing, I’ll be excited. I also understand there are people who just won’t get on planes. Cost estimate: https://reason.org/commentary/on-high-speed-rail-look-at-the-costs-and-results-before-you-leap/ https://reason.org/commentary/on-high-speed-rail-look-at-the... EAS subsidy: https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-aviations-battle-serve-remote-american-cities-reap-subsidies-2021-9 https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-aviations-battle-serv...