Except that the congestion caused by individual drivers on roads (even with each car fully loaded) is far greater than that caused by mass transit vehicles such as buses, trams or trains. And as congestion increases, the cars spend a lot more time waiting in gridlock, and a lot more fuel is burnt than in the theoretical optimum.

Also, I doubt that the Cato Institute would be particularly impartial here.

Actually, GM have a division which builds diesel locomotives.

France's TGV is moving people at 574km/h.

Not quite; 574km/h was the maximum speed obtained on a special test run, using a train consisting solely of power cars (i.e., no passenger cars), with modified electrical systems and a special raised voltage, just to demonstrate the theoretical possibilities. The maximum speed day to day is 320km/h.

Not that that invalidates the rest of the article; passenger rail in the US is lagging behind the state of the art and, in many cases, behind the state of the practice (witness the state of Amtrak, which makes Britain's post-privatisation railways look like a model of efficiency).

Wonder how many of these will end up on eBay.

Actually, producing or distributing "circumvention devices" is a criminal offence in all countries that have implemented WIPO legislation (such as the US DMCA or the EU Copyright Directive).