While long an integral part of the European transportation infrastructure, high speed rail has gone almost completely overlooked in the United States. Only Amtrak's popular Acela service delivers what can reasonably be called high-speed rail travel, and even it has been relatively limited by older track infrastructure, a high price tag, and small service area. But in the most recent election, Californian voters approved funding for a 220mph high speed train to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours.

The rail link will be a significant improvement over existing transportation between the two cities because of its reliability, easy of use and light environmental impact. Rail connections do exist, but they are geared largely toward heavy freight uses, and rely on carbon-intensive diesel engines, instead of the electric power high speed rail is likely to use. Commuter routes on national carrier Amtrak offer prohibitively long travel times—sometimes upward of 12 hours—and are unreliable, with frequent delays for the freight service that makes much of California's existing trackage profitable.

As a result, the vast majority of commuter travel between the two cities is done via air connections, or along the Interstate Highway System. While actual flight times from San Francisco and Los Angeles are faster than the travel time anticipated from the high-speed rail link, difficulty getting to and from airports to downtown destinations, along with long security and check-in lines, make air travel's net transit times—as well as net environmental impacts—far more harmful.

Furthermore, air travel cuts off business travelers from connections to the corporate world, both because of FAA regulation banning the use of electronic communications devices during flight, and because of limited or non-existent cellular service at 30,000 feet. Though some sections of the 700 mile rail route will doubtlessly pass through areas without cellular service, for the most part, it will allow travelers to stay connected through the vast majority of the trip.

Though highway travel provides the easiest point-to-point connection, it comes with a substantially higher environmental and economic cost. Fluctuating fuel prices make car travel expenses difficult to plan for, and widespread congestion presents additional uncertainties. Additionally, global warming pollution, rampant smog, and near-endless road construction due to wear all result from abuse of the highways in between the two cities.

There had initially been worries the plan would split the eco-conscious voters in California, as plans routed the line through a relatively undisturbed pass south of San Francisco. In the end, it appears the electorate's concerns over the damage being done by existing transportation networks won out. If successful, the California high-speed rail link could provide a clean, reliable model for commuter connections between major cities nationwide.