Summary
A new AP-NORC poll shows that Americans’ confidence in air travel has declined after several fatal plane crashes in 2025.
Only 64% now believe flying is safe, down from 71% last year, while the number of those who feel it is unsafe rose by 12%.
Confidence in pilots, air traffic controllers, and the federal government has also dropped. Recent crashes, including a deadly collision over Washington, D.C., have fueled public concern.
Meanwhile, Trump has begun firing hundreds of FAA employees, raising further safety worries.
You wouldn’t build high speed rail on cargo lines, anyway. New rail corridors need to be established. The LA-Vegas line is being built along an existing interstate, which solves a lot of right-of-way and land usage issues. That’s what you want to do.
That works fine in nowheresville like the Nevada desert. Unfortunately, the bulk of America east of the continental divide is too populated to legally pull that off in any reasonable amount of time.
Much of the cargo lines through much of the country are pretty flat and straight. Tracks and such would have to be upgraded, but doable.
Bigger problem though is my previous mention. They own the lines, so passenger rail is a second-class citizen.
Presumably, those cargo trains still need to run on those routes, but they have no economic incentive to do it fast. You don’t want even regular passenger services and cargo on the same line if you can avoid it. Amtrak has a lot of issues because of that. For high speed rail, it could never live up to its name.
America has tons of land. Even without reusing existing interstate corridors, there are some viable new corridors.