Polar Express on the SoCal Express? 🥺👉️👈️

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Happy Tuesday, folks.

One mantra that I have come to live by is the ol’ “fake it ‘til you make it.”

It’s pretty crazy what you can accomplish when you simply say f*** it and just act like you belong there, realizing that everyone else is pretty much doing the same thing.

However, in turns out that there are places where you probably shouldn’t fake it.

Just ask Google, who is currently getting flamed by the internet for allegedly faking its Gemini demo earlier this week. I get that the company is desperate to close the gap with industry-leading OpenAI, but there’s no excuse for this... It’s bad.

Still, I don’t think they put the kind of effort that Nikola put into its faked EV truck demo in 2020 when the company put the truck on a downward incline so that it would roll lol

Polar Express on the SoCal Express? 🥺 👉️👈️

If you despise 20 hour road trips but hate $20 airport sandwiches, boy do I have the news for you.

This past week, President Biden woke up and chose to give Vanderbilt, turbocharging the U.S. rail network with a whopping $8.2 billion investment. It's the largest federal investment in passenger rail since Amtrak's birth in 1971, which is also the year that Tom Brady was drafted by the Patriots.

As cinema seems to be the way Biden makes most of his legislative decisions these days, I’m blaming this announcement on the false alarm superconductor making Biden revist Agatha Christie classics like Murder on the Orient Express.

It’s the land of 75º and sunny that’s getting the bulk of the funding through two major projects, an LA-LV line and an LA-SF route.

For the influencers who are scared about their dancing livelihood after seeing those AI TikTok deepfakes and are looking to diversify their revenue streams (perhaps by telling the dealer to “hit me”), the Las Vegas <=> SoCal track will be a sleek, privately-owned route with $3 billion in backing. Expected to be providing 2 hour rides by 2028 (4.5 hours by car), this route will be ready to go for those wanting to see the Olympics in Los Angeles while staying at The Venetian.

California must have something on Biden because the state is also getting a $3.1 billion public route connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. If this sounds like déjà vu, it’s probably because voters actually approved it way back in 2008, though without funding, it has seen as much progress as I’ve had investing time travel.

The success of these projects could usher in a new era for economic possibilities, reminiscent of China's high-speed rail marvel. Imagine living in one city such as Boston and working in another like New York, expanding job markets, and leveraging the cost of living versus earning potential. Plus, you can catch roughly one episode of "The Morning Show" each way your commute.

And if this vision comes to fruition, expect to see similar projects sprouting in states like Texas, Florida, and the Midwest. While real trains are a bit more expensive than the toy ones, leaving little room for startup competition in the actual rail construction (apart from a select few like Hyperloop), the ripple effects are enormous.

Startups could find themselves in a talent gold rush, no longer constrained by geographical boundaries. Moreover, there's a playground of innovation for those looking to service these rail giants – think electronic train charging via WiTricity, or AI-powered fleet maintenance by Konux.

They say that time is a circle, and while I'm okay with skipping horse-drawn carriages (despite my Texan roots and love for a good ride 🤠), the resurgence of rail travel suggests that industry titans like Carnegie and Vanderbilt might have been onto something.

And hey, who doesn't love a good train ride? Especially when it could signal a new era of connectivity and opportunity for the agile, innovative minds in the startup sphere.

You know, managing all of these trains and routes is going to require some serious software.

Cheers to another day,

Trey