Sadly, you're probably right. In many cases we can't even afford to take care of existing mass transit systems, never mind build new ones. The sad part is the French (and Japanese) with their system of electric trains mostly powered by nuclear reactors are going to be in far better shape than we are as the oil supplies start to run out.
Actually, assuming we had the will to build it, a TGV system would work well here along any medium to heavily traveled air corridors out to a distance of at least 1000 miles. It could also largely replace our aging Interstate highway system if we had local connecting mass transit. Remember that France isn't a particularly densely populated country either yet the system is viable there. I suspect the real problem getting a system like this built is just an ingrained animus against any sort of public transportation among many of our elected officials. That being said, if we could just get one or two systems built here my guess is every state would want one.
As far as I know, there's nothing special about the bearings used in the TGV other than maybe being made to somewhat greater precision than normal bearings. The TGV runs at a very light (by railway standards) maximum axle load of 17 metric tons so this reduces the stress on the bearings at speed. Also, the test train was fitted with larger than normal wheels to keep the RPMs down.
Yes, this is an enormously impressive achievement-nearly six miles a minute without resorting to exotic technologies like maglev. Better yet, it was considered safe enough that journalists were on board the test train. Fourty years ago it was a widely accepted "fact" that ~125mph was the maximum daily operational limit of conventional railways. Even though the French had broken 200 mph in the 1950s it caused enormous damage to the track, thereby relegating it to a one-time stunt. Thanks to years of perserverence and evolutionary development we can now run at 200 mph day in and day out. Furthermore, my guess is we still haven't seen the real limits of steel wheel on steel rail. By about 2012 France and Japan will increase running speeds to 360 km/hr (224 mph). Perhaps 400 mph will be exceeded in tests.