Superfast trains in the U.S. - why not?

[Flyer]

@BrainGlutton

But, in the United States, we have areas with extremely high population density separated by rural areas that are sparsely populated. And much vaster and less-populated rural areas than Japan has. As for NIMBYism, the Interstate Highways cut through densely populated areas as well as suburbs and exurbs and the countryside – if we can tolerate those next door, we can tolerate anything. HSR is quiet and innocuous by comparison.

Regarding the population density issue, there is no place at all in America that comes close to many other countries. I’m going to quote myself from another thread:

@Flyer

Major cities in the US have far LOWER population densities than many major cities in other countries.
The following list gives people per square kilometer, for some reason:

Seoul/Incheon
16,700

Taipei
15,200

Madrid
5,200

London
5,100

Tel Aviv
5,050

By contrast, Los Angeles–the most densely-populated American city–ranks 90th in the world at 2,750. New York is 2,050. Dallas/Ft. Worth & Houston, with about 8 million residents between them, are 1,150.

http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/largest-cities-density-125.html

Seoul is 6 times more densely-populated than LA.