Can we stop with the light rail and build some real trains?

So, I'm reading the article that plans are now under way to extend the light rail to Santa Monica from the line already being built to Culver City. As I read the article, I get a sense of the board thinking "let's do the easiest thing possible." They don't want to build an elevated station because this is 'earthquake country.' Perhaps they have never been to Japan, but they get a hell of a lot more earthquakes in Tokyo and they have elevated trains all over the place! Next, they don't want the train to run high speeds through Santa Monica, and they want it to *obey the same traffic signals* as the traffic on Coloardo Blvd. Have you driven on this street? It's S-L-O-W. "It won't run at 55 mph" they say. 55? Urban trains can go over 80 mph these days. How about just separating the structure a little bit and allowing a high speed trip to Santa Monica? The Gold Line that runs on Marmion now at least gets priority through the traffic lights, even if it's only going 30. Who the hell wants to take a 45 minute trip from Culver City to Santa Monica? You'd be faster on the bus that goes through Venice first. I wish the MTA board actually cared about proper transit solutions instead of looking for the cheapest and easiest way out. Take a little bit longer to design a system and improve it so that it will stay around for many years, instead of trying to copy the old streetcar system exactly. Los Angeles is BIG, and it needs high-speed-trains, not slow moving light rail. However, Zev has never really been about providing proper transit solutions, has he? If you don't remember he's the one who screwed Los Angeles over by not allowing the voter-approved sales-tax to go to the subway, when that's where it was supposed to go. It's long past time for him to go.