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“The trip must be between 200 and 300 miles. Their research indicates this is the sweet spot between being more than a convenient car ride, but less then a convenient plane ride. I'll note that LA -> LV is ~180 miles, whereas LA -> SF is ~340 miles.”

That’s a function of the train speed. If the train traveled at 300 mph, then LA<->SF becomes faster than Brightline’s 180 mile LA to Vegas route, which looks like it will average 100 mph.

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300mph is not trivial for trains, that's more in maglev range. In fact, the fastest maglev in operation (Shanghai's) tops at 286mph.

Yep, that would explain the half a dozen comments about maglevs made by me.

I’ve definitely been trying to steer the conversation towards maglevs.

> That’s a function of the train speed. If the train traveled at 300 mph, then LA<->SF becomes faster than Brightline’s 180 mile LA to Vegas route, which looks like it will average 100 mph.

Even with the speed, you would have to do LA <-> SF as the crow flies. California HSR Phase 1 is 520 mi.

On the other hand, LA <-> LV is effectively flat, at least from where the Brightline leaves in Palmdale. The difference between the two projects is pretty stark.

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