Originally Posted by
Artpen100
Only DC-Chicago-NY, Houston-Dallas-Austin and maybe SF-LA. Otherwise, the traffic just isn't there. If between two given cities there are only one or two flights a day, how can they be expected to fill a train every hour?
Bunk. There are literally dozens of city pairs or sequences in the US where HSR is viable. DFW-AUS-SAT-HOU, ORD-STL-MCI, DTW-ORD-IND, ORD-MKE, BOS-BTV-YUL, MIA-FLL-MCO, PHL-PIT-CMH-CLE, LAS-LAX, SAN-LAX-SFO-SMF, PDX-SEA-YVR are some of the most obvious outside the NEC. Many of theses routes already have successful corridor services that can gradually be improved to become higher speed services. Not true HSR, but 110mph or better services that easily beat driving and compete pretty well with flying up to 500 mile distances.
The Shinkansen has my vote for best in the world. TGV and AVE not far behind. Have ridden plenty of trains in China, but not the high speed lines yet.