One big difference though between Nuremberg and Munich compared to Tampa and Orlando is getting around once you are there. Both Nuremberg and Munich have local transit options, including local rail systems (it was a few years ago, but I seem to recall both cities having a subway and light rail). Orlando and Tampa have neither. Then there is also the compactness of areas once reach, with the German cities having a greater density.
All of that should happen and be used before any connections are made. Getting around needs to be proven first.
And that's what I meant about a different culture with regard to public transportation. I think any public transportations system only works when it is as accessible as possible, including local transit options. It has to be easy to take the train/bus/etc. otherwise it will always be more comfortable to hop in your car. I think one high speed rail link will not change a whole system of transportation which has grown over generations.
Yes, I am aware of that, that's why I said I knew it wasn't comparable.
Oh and on the question about the competition between train and airplane: For longer distances airplanes will always be preferrable. But the experience here in Germany (once again being fully aware of the differences between these two countries!) has been that for train rides up to five hours the train becomes pretty competitive. Especially for business travelers: you arrive in the city center and don't have a long ride from the airport to your final destination, there aren't any security lines etc., since you are spending most of your time put in one place (instead of moving around from transit to airport, waiting at airport, boarding, plane ride, transit from airport) you can work more efficiently, you have more space on the train, you can make phone calls while on the train, the flexibel fares for the train are cheaper than a flexibel airline ticket (and there is a clever and very popular discount system).
I know far too little about the proposed high speed rail links in the US to comment on wether those are useful or not, I just wanted to add some perspective to the discussion! :wave:
Those types of details are important in getting the public behind the plan, and either they don't realize that or are simply not yet at that stage in planning. 
Oh, yeah, I think anyone interested in HSR has checked out Florida's website. They've had those images of the proposed track alignment up there for quite awhile now. But it's all very, very vague stuff for the major stations, with only shaded lines and boxes on aerial photographs like this...
It would instill a lot of confidence in the thing if they could line up some station funding and maybe get an architecture firm to design at the very least the main terminus stations in Tampa and/or Orlando. Maybe something like, oh.... I don't know... this new HOK Architects designed station in Anaheim?
Heck, it would be cool if Florida's system could just throw any type of sketches or renderings out there of anything. The Florida organization doesn't even have a livery planned for the trains, and instead are just using clip art from European and Asian systems on their amateurish website.
The California HSR livery is already a big hit with UCLA fans, but the Stanford and USC alums in the state may force the HSR Authority to reconsider this widely used livery for the trainsets. :lol:
http://cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/
All of that is going to have to be done at some point.How much money has California spent on all those renderings, architectural drawings and computer simulations that have not moved a passanger 1 inch? Oh yeah, money grows on trees in the Golden State. My bad.
