Monorail!

Wired notes that the federal government seems poised to bankroll the creation of high-speed rail across the United States. President Obama alluded to this in his State of the Union address.

It might happen. Just don't expect it anytime soon. Here's why.

State governments have seen this coming. With some states, like New York and California, dangerously broke, they're grasping at the chance to get any money they possibly can from the federal government. If that means coming up with a high-speed rail plan, that's what they'll do.

New York has. While working for the Riverdale Press, I took note when Gov. David Paterson released New York's plans last year.

But rail lines don't spring up just overnight. There will be a lot of states fighting for a limited pool of money, and plans like New York's are set to be phased in over a 20-year period. So when Wired says superfast bullet trains are "finally coming," they're finally coming ... sometime. Probably before you die. The upshot is that states will likely be able to start spending money far sooner than that. And that's part of the point.