Recommended: Congress, Governors Nix Obama's High-Speed Trains

Sometimes sanity does eventually prevail, even in Washington. As I have noted in previous posts, high-speed passenger trains are not economically viable in America. Actually, they are not economically viable in most places, any more than the supersonic Concord was ever economically viable. But among some of the Washington elite, who may be politically savvy but are naive about the realities of engineering and economics, high speed rail has had a persistent appeal.

As Michael Barone notes in his piece today Congress, Governors Nix Obama's High-Speed Trains, most Governors have been smart enough to see that accepting federal grants to begin to build high-speed rail lines would encumber their states with huge long-term subsidies, and Congress has finally cooled on the idea of wasting any more money down this rat hole.