Bullet train: Will you ride the California rocket?

(Credit: California High-Speed Rail Authority)

High-speed railways are common in Europe and Asia, but they're more scarce than the metric system in the U.S. California, though, aims to change that with a bullet train linking LA and San Francisco in less than three hours.

State lawmakers on Friday approved construction of the first phase of the line, which has been the subject of years of debate. California's finances are in poor shape, and the LA-San Francisco railway is expected to cost some $68 billion.

According to the California High-Speed Rail Authority, a trip from San Francisco to LA would take two hours and 38 minutes, and save 324 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

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The authority says the high-speed train system will use "extensively-proven high-speed train technology from Europe or Asia," citing the success of Japan's Shinkansen bullet trains as well as trains in France... [Read more]