Next week President Obama will send his fiscal year 2012 budget to Congress. One sign that he’s not serious about cutting the deficit is his plan to spend $53 billion over the next six years on high-speed rail, $8 billion in 2012. Speaking in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Vice President Biden declared, “As a long time Amtrak rider and advocate, I understand the need to invest in a modern rail system that will help connect communities, reduce congestion and create quality, skilled manufacturing jobs that cannot be outsourced.” But most Americans don’t use railroads, they use cars. High-speed rail is an expensive form of transportation that will reach only small segments of the country and that will not substitute for highways.

Developing a true, nationwide high-speed rail network would cost far more than $53 billion. Building high-speed lines — capable of speeds of 150 to 200 miles per hour — on newly laid track, as well as incremental improvements in existing rail infrastructure, could cost between $250 billion and $500 billion, perhaps more. Obama’s initial payment would be just the first drop in the bucket.