Can we have a science paper that explains why we can colonize Andromeda but we can’t build high speed rail?

In one case "we" is an imaginary humanity as a whole acting to fulfill a grand species defining mission, in the other case "we" is the real, decadent, ignorant and divided population of some countries.

Because we don't refer to the same entities in each case?

There's no NIMBYs in Andromeda