California’s bullet train delays have basically nothing to do with fundamental challenges like seismic engineering, and everything to do with planning permission issues / NIMBYs and California specific regulations on one hand, and with bad management on the other.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/09/us/california-high-speed-...

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-09/californ...

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/poor-decision-making-manage...

Earthquakes have little to do with it. They are simply an excuse for horrible policy. Go explain to Japan why earthquakes should prevent them from building effective infrastructure.