Somehow the Japanese are building new HSR lines right into the centre of their two biggest cities, Tokyo and Osaka. Grade separated. 90% tunnel through mountains, elevated in urban areas.

They have earthquakes and even more densely built up areas to contend with. Somehow they manage it, regularly. And not just for HSR, the Tsukuba Express line is another example that is not high speed but is fully grade separated and runs right into the centre of Tokyo. Partially underground, partially viaduct.

More high speed rail than the rest of the world combined, all built in the last 15 years. It's some of the fastest too, with peak speeds exceeding those in Japan (where they are limited due to noise concerns rather than safety or the capabilities of the trains).

They are also now building new maglev lines, starting in Beijing, which will be the fastest in the world, and are going to be the longest and most extensive in the world as they rapidly expand.

They also have more underground rail than the rest of the world combined, all built in the last 20 years.

It's not just about travel time, it's about comfort and emissions, and arriving fresh instead of tired from a long drive.

In other words commercial rivals will sabotage it.

When you factor in time taken to get to the airport and go through security, and the fact that flights aren't as regular as HSR typically, even for very long distances rail is competitive. Maglev will make it even more so. It's much more comfortable too.

Even if you still can't cope with it for very long distances, for shorter ones it will definitely be a lot faster than flying.

You definitely weren't stopped at a crossing to wait for a high speed train, because legally in Japan they have to be grade separated. In other words, any crossing has to be a tunnel. Barriers and roads going over the tracks are not allowed.

Their conventional rail can be fairly fast in places, but of course nothing like the Shinkansen (bullet trains).

In Japan the high speed lines often run parallel to the ordinary lines. They are always grade separated, either on a mound or on very long viaducts. Yes it costs more, but it's worth it.

Some countries are basket cases when it comes to infrastructure. The reasons vary, but it's generally a sign of a society in decline when they can't make those kinds of improvements. The UK has the same problem, I'm not singling out the US.

Look at Japan's new maglev line. It's 90% tunnels through mountains. Goes through densely populated cities to reach the stations. More than twice as fast as TFA is speculating about, at 600 KPH / 370 MPH.

Cities were competing to get mid-way stations added. In the last couple of decades they also built the Tsukuba Express line, and a number of new towns along it, for commuters to live in and access central Tokyo. Joined up planning, and creating new opportunities.

They don't need multi-track either, their trains are reliable, even with the earthquakes and extreme weather.

They are aiming so low anyway. Very small reactors, low output power, and they appear to have a lifetime of a few years because they don't have a plan to bring them up and refuel them. SMRs go through fuel faster than larger reactors, one of the reasons why they produce more waste.

In summary they are planning to use an untested new technology that nobody has managed to make a working prototype of, and bury it in a harsh environment where they can't fix any issues that arise, all to power an AI datacentre whose existence depends on a bubble that is already showing signs of bursting.

It was mostly down to the available implementations of JPEG XL being crap. The reference C library had an unstable API, and performance was mediocre. They were still addressing some pretty severe security related bugs with every release. It was immature and not suitable for shipping with a web browser.

Now there are better options, Google can integrate it safely.

It turns out they aren't quite as bad at the Boomers and their Facebook.

Looking at the top sites, it's

Cat videos
Russian propaganda
Soft porn
5 second attention span

I like how Twitter has falling so far down the rankings now.

Yellowstone needs to be drained of heat, otherwise it will burst the ugliest of bursts.

They probably could, it doesn't look hard to pronounce.

That happened in a galaxy far, far away. No way it could make it this far.

I just want to say, there is some non-Amtrak tourist-oriented passenger rail service in the U.S., but routes are limited and not cheap.