A handful of politicians in red states are bizarrely pushing for taxpayer-funded “bullet trains” that seem like something right out of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal. Despite the fact that Americans consistently prefer to drive, fly, and use other modes of transportation, some officials in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are still pushing for taxpayer-funded passenger trains in the Southeast.

Such trains have a history of failure. Amtrak’s Hoosier State Line between Indianapolis and Chicago just had its last trip on June 30. Residents were not satisfied with the experience of the government-run and taxpayer-subsidized train. Annual ridership collapsed by more than a thousand riders a year — losing about 10,000 riders over the last eight years.