High Speed Passenger Rail? Not so fast

From the Economist:

America’s railways are the mirror image of Europe’s. Europe has an impressive and growing network of high-speed passenger links, many of them international, like the Thalys service between Paris and Brussels or the Eurostar connecting London to the French and Belgian capitals. These are successful—although once the (off-balance-sheet) costs of building the tracks are counted, they need subsidies of billions of dollars a year. But, outside Germany and Switzerland, Europe’s freight rail services are a fragmented, lossmaking mess. Repeated attempts to remove the technical and bureaucratic hurdles at national frontiers have come to nothing.

Amtrak’s passenger services are sparse compared with Europe’s. But America’s freight railways are one of the unsung transport successes of the past 30 years. They are universally recognised in the industry as the best in the world.

Apparently passenger lines mung up scheduling for freight, and I've heard that passenger lines never were profitable for the railroads even in their heyday. I'd not bother with a passenger line to Milwaukee--its faster to drive, and if I didn't have a car I'd take the bus (cheaper).