Take San Francisco to Los Angeles, for example. Let's say you're flying. It takes an hour to get to the airport, and you have to be there two hours before your flight. The flight takes an hour. Then it takes half an hour for your baggage to arrive, then another half an hour to get your rental car, then an hour to drive to your destination (if you're lucky). That's six hours, which is the same as driving. High speed rail (real high speed rail) would be faster than flying (or driving).
But let's say you're going on vacation. Let's say you've got a wife and two kids. If you fly, you need four tickets. Same with rail. If you drive, you only drive one car. That shifts the economics massively.
> Indiana has the population of Denmark. Texas is almost twice as populous as The Netherlands
Indiana is 36,000 square miles; Denmark is 16,000 square miles. Texas is 268,000 square miles; The Netherlands is 42,000 square miles. The populations may be similar; the densities are not. That matters a great deal for this discussion.
But let's say you're going on vacation. Let's say you've got a wife and two kids. If you fly, you need four tickets. Same with rail. If you drive, you only drive one car. That shifts the economics massively.
> Indiana has the population of Denmark. Texas is almost twice as populous as The Netherlands
Indiana is 36,000 square miles; Denmark is 16,000 square miles. Texas is 268,000 square miles; The Netherlands is 42,000 square miles. The populations may be similar; the densities are not. That matters a great deal for this discussion.