High-Speed Rail Convenient?

3. Offers and convenient, comfortable way to travel without hassles or delays

--There are some truths here. I ride the Amtrak Cascades route on occasion and have found it a great way to travel. It is comfortable, and it is nice to be able to get up and walk-about while doing 70MPH along the Columbia River. But to say train travel is without hassles or delays has very limited exposure to the troubles Amtrak experiences especially with long distance trains. Even the Cascades had recent troubles. Last week, after several days of torrential rain, mudslides closed down the tracks to ALL traffic.  And get this, the railroads primary concern was to get the rail line open for FRIEGHT traffic, not the Cascades trains. I have a friend that routinely travels the Empire Builder to the Midwest. He truly does enjoy traveling by train, but hates all the delays he runs into while traveling. I don’t recall if he has ever reached his destination at the designated time. And God forbid if you have to make a connection in Chicago or one of the other hubs.  With all the enroute delays, making the connection can be an iffy bet.

I know the high-speed rail will be on dedicated tracks, in many locations. For some routes however, existing lines will be upgraded for higher speeds. Reading through all the information that I can find, the Cascades and Wisconsin Routes will be on existing lines. Will the high-speed rail be delayed by higher priority freight trains on these existing lines? Based on what I read, the official answer is no, but have they consulted with the actually companies that own the rails? People keep referring to the great performance of the high-speed lines in Europe and Asia. What they don’t bother to mention are those line are dedicated from station to station. And the distances between stations is generally long. On the Cascades, there are 19 stops along a 200+ miles route. Barely enough distances to get the train up to top speed before having to slow down for a stop at Kelso, WA. In Japan, the distance between stops is much greater. Once you arrive in Tokyo for example, there are options galore, from riding the subway, to a bus system, to hoping on another train to get to the outlying areas.