Right now, it takes six hours (at best) to drive from LA to San Francisco and twelve hours to ride a passenger train on the same trip.  With the passing of a new initiative in California, though, that will soon change.

A high-speed rail system from San Diego to San Francisco and Sacramento is planned and will begin rolling out.  The first leg will service the LA/Anaheim area to San Diego.

Once this new rail system is in place, the trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco will take a little over two and a half hours.  You can’t even fly there that fast, once you figure in airport delays and check-in times.  The route will mirror the I-5 corridor up to Sacramento with a leg turning off about where the freeway splits to go west just before Merced and Tracy.

Read more at this link.