> property rights

The Australian federal government is planning to build a high-speed rail line from Sydney to Newcastle (medium-sized city two hours drive north). Their solution to property rights, is >50% of the line will be underground. It will cost >US$50 billion, but if the Australian federal government wants to spend that, it can afford it. The US federal government could too, but it isn’t a priority for them

> local regulations make it prohibitively expensive

Local regulations can be pre-empted by state or federal legislation. The real problem is lack of political will to do it.