"The U.S. High-Speed Rail Association’s October conference opened like any Washington gathering. The congressmen were in the front row. A powerhouse law firm laid out prints of its lobbyists’ biographies. And as the J.W. Marriott meeting room went dark, a film offered romantic visions of bullet trains in America’s future. For decades, American rail buffs have coveted the sort of sleek trains that crisscross Europe and Asia at speeds of more than 180 miles per hour. But after the U.S. has spent millions of dollars studying high-speed rail, the American incarnation is but a single line that travels from Washington to Boston at an average speed of slower than 80 miles per hour." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet