DON'T OVERANALYZE.  In New Geography, Aaron Renn argues that high speed rail is dead.

But beyond those philosophically opposed to HSR, some  high speed rail advocates have done themselves no favors either. They've resolutely backed pretty much any and every rail project regardless of whether it is potentially useful or an outright boondoggle. They've engaged in false advertising by labeling 110 MPH peak speeds as “high speed rail” instead of what it really is: Amtrak on steroids. (One of the more serious HSR advocates is Richard Longworth, who labeled the Midwest 110 MPH rail plan the “Toonerville trolley”). Nevertheless, Illinois is pocketing well over $1 billion of the HSR stimulus funds for this “high speed” system that will offer end to end journey times that are at best only slightly better than what's already being provided today by Megabus – and that for only a handful of trains a day on a line still subject to freight interference.

That last sentence mischaracterizes the St. Louis project, which is likely to become a piggyback corridor with more frequent passenger trains once the track rebuilding, and as far as Amtrak on steroids is concerned, the better concept for the projects being put forth is Traditional Passenger Rail.  But the tradition ought to be the speeds and timings of the late 1930s, with infrastructure and rolling stock improvements to improve on those.  No subscription bus service can come close, although decent scheduled buses filling in for the puddle-jumpers has merit.