Indeed. In fact, though government approval was granted in Dec 1958, the Shinkansen construction started only in April 1959. And it took five years to open. To say nothing of the fact that it only covered 300 miles and had huge cost overruns of 90% so that the total cost in today’s money would be an astounding $15 billion.

That line from Tokyo to Osaka needed sustained funding for a neverending half decade and wouldn’t have worked as well with just a burst of effort.

By comparison, these days we have much more advanced technology so the Central Subway in SF only cost $1.9 b for the extensive 1.7 miles it covers and though construction started as late as 2012, the line was open in the blink of an eye, and passengers were riding it ten years later.

Indeed, it is a triumph of our modern methods of not expecting things overnight that had this much larger and more complex project delivered so much faster.

An old master carpenter I knew once used to say “Measure a thousand times, then before you cut measure another thousand times. Then cut once”. In the many decades since I’ve known him he has built a single table that IKEA would be jealous of on his own. Any time I gaze upon it I am reminded of our extensive success with rail in California through sustained careful effort, never rushing, always with focus. As the Bene Gesserit say, “Our plans are measured in centuries”