If a high speed rail between Bakersfield and Modesto costs as much as it has It would seem that the startup costs on these would be immense - particularly ones going through areas with actual population density.
It would seem cheaper for reasonably short distances - say 300 miles or so - to simply build a 5000 foot long rail gun catapult and simply fling gliders full of pax at the next station where they could land, be towed back into position and fired onward further. No boring through mountains that way.
