Comment: I believe rail was doomed from it's pathetic inception, people simply want / need their cars. just getting from their house to the rail terminals requires some kind of transpo and meager local ridership will cripple the hopes unless tourists go totally ape for it. either way, we'll need to find alternative usage for the monstrosity if we're to actually lighten traffic loads while driverless cars won't really be seen even in our kid's lifetimes. but larger hybrids and gassers could be fazed out soon as alt power mini cars / cycles are further developed and adapted for rail transport allowing many drivers to be off the fwys / hwys then putt around to their various destinations until boarding the train back home. but if the same brain powers who've saddled us with the current disaster are to conceive and design anything feasible for the future then forget it, we're screwed forever.