Heavy Rail, Commuter Rail, & Intercity Transportation

[trofirhen]

We already have the Amtrak Cascades to Seattle, although I don't think the rail bed allows for really high speeds. But we do have it, and that's a major start.
What about "beefing up" the railbed - an overpass here, a tunnel there - to allow for yet faster trains. They may not be HSR like the TGV or Shinkansen, but they'd exist.
The capital cost would possibly be considerably lower that for full-fledged HSR. If that works, attracting enough pax, then they could go go one step further upgrading to full HSR.
If not, at least there'd be a fast train, and who knows, it just might catch on, and become the preferred way to go. It seems to me that perhaps people are setting their initial goals too high.