Connect some major population centres by train.
Do you lack reading comprehension?? California was unable to connect L.A. to San Fran and this was after several cost overruns, almost 20 years ago!
It sounds like you have the same sort of people running your rail infrastructure projects as we do.
Ours are probably worse. California is especially Byzantine with it's red tape in getting any major project done. Most of the time and money gets wasted on redundant environmental impact studies and things like that.
In order to cut through red tape like that, you'll need a dictatorship, which is AOC's agenda all along.
The Green New deal has Federal power garb written all over it.
Note that I said "do it properly with competent engineers and planners". Not "do it the same way you did it last time and hope that the outcome is different. Because that's the definition of crazy, right? To keep doing the same thing and expecting different outcomes.
What tends to happen is that deals are done, favours are returned, political decisions are made, and you end up with a complete mess. Doesn't matter whether you've got a progressive government or a regressive government in charge.
Around the world there are big infrastructure projects that are delivered properly, on time and on budget. And there are big infrastructure projects that end up like your LA <=> San Francisco link. There are reasons for that. If you (not you specifically Pappy) keep making the same fuck-ups in the planning stages, don't be surprised when you keep getting fucked up outcomes.
In Sydney our government recently went out and bought $2 Billion worth of new trains. And forgot to measure them. They don't fit through our tunnels. If you guys can beat that level of incompetence then I'm impressed.