Will gas prices, air travel hassles and traffic jams spur funding for high-speed rail in the United States? We’ve funneled money into cars and highways while other countries developed 200mph rail systems. Of course it will take billions to upgrade our railways to support high speeds. And that money may be better spent on research into alternative sources of power and transportation (but probably not Star Trek transporters…not yet anyway). The Acela Express route from Boston to Washington D.C. is doing well, with a 20% rise in ridership in May thanks to gas costs. And a Philadelphia to Harrisburg 110 mph route also rose 18%. California is still championing plans for a 220 mph train from San Francisco to San Diego (a mere 3 1/2 hour train ride!), but voting on the $10 billion bond issue keeps being postponed.