There are always political reasons.

Above all, it is not clear why it is "necessary" to produce locomotives and related tracks that support ever higher speeds, when the so-called "smart" technology puts anyone in contact with multitudes from all over the world at infinitely lower costs, remaining at home.

Thx for your contribution Hermann and Gioacchino. May a major reason be the 1880s railway barons and the related natural monopolies structures and trust issues, which left a bad taste behind?

Is a strong centralized government with less federalism a necessary precondition for the likelihood of enough initial investments into a railway system, from where it may take off in a privatized structure? Think only in few countries bankerized railway systems were over a longer period sustainable.

Cherish your views.

Hermann Gruenwald You're welcome

But the information infrastructure of the United States is better, and it connects and controls the information superhighway of the world.

I was involved in many feasibility studies of High Speed Rail (HSR) systems in the USA. I was founder chair of the High Speed Ground Transportation Systems Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The ubiquitous interstate highway network and well developed air travel network made the people drive comfortably upto 500 miles; beyond that air travel is preferred. So, all the HSR studies concluded there will not be sufficient ridership by HSR. Even the current AMTRAK intercity passenger rail system is running at losses and require huge subsidies from federal government. American public prefer automobile for trips below 500 miles and air travel beyond 500 miles. The low cost airlines provide cheap travel alternative for long distance trips.

Dear Murty, thank you very much for your assessment. Very interesting.

Do you think this is going to change if eco-conscious influence remains after 2024? Probably accompanied by disincentivizing Carbon Dioxide consumption ahead.

I watched a YouTube video about it. I guess the probable reasons for the USA to lag behind China are Lack of political will, fragmented funding and planning, challenges in obtaining land and permits, competition from other modes of transportation, lack of technological innovation and sparsely located population centers.

The USA is always thinking about military mightly while China is Investing on all! China do business with many countries on a win win situation while the USA is there to just take everything and therefore is loosing friends who are now working with China to advance their economic environment!

1. USA

The high-speed railway track system in the USA so far behind so many other countries, especially China, but not favorable than China because there is difference critical on their uses, you can see this Statement on how the Chinese Railway track system is very admired by big number of Population then for the USA Currently their projects face challenges. The proposed Boston-NYC route highlights the logistical challenges and high cost of building high speed rail in densely populated areas. The route would require the construction of numerous tunnels, including one stretching 16 miles beneath the Long Island Sound.

2. CHINA:

When you buy the ticket, you feel that pricewise maybe you should have flown domestic instead. When you arrive at the station 5 minutes before the train leaves instead of an hour before, you feel like okay you’ve saved some time. At the very least you’ve saved yourself hanging around an airport for a while. When you sit down in your seat and realize that you can actually move your legs, or get past your neighbor without disturbing said neighbor, you feel skinnier, when you look out your window and see rural China flying by, you feel caught in a time-warp. When you walk up and down the aisles at your pleasure and convenience, you feel the blood circulating. When you use your 4G (Portable Wi-Fi) on the trip without anyone telling you that it interferes with the operation of the vehicle, you feel productive (more realistically, you feel entertained/distracted).

Reason why when you realize that American infrastructure is light years behind China’s, you are not right.

Thank you Pascal for sharing your thoughts. Good points.

First of all, I mention this point.

I am civil-engineer of railway structure, and my specialty is the maintenance and management of railway structures and the prevention natural disasters.

Then I will reply for your question.

There are two reasons, I think.

Firstly, the main transportation in the U.S. were historically by cars and airplanes.So, there was no needs for new mass and high speed transportation system.

Secondly, high speed railway system are make up by automatic train control system, high power electric engine system and extreme light train body.These railway element techniques were not matching historical American railway techniques which was big, heavy, strong and powerful.

Tirdly,Japan, Germany and France had the basic technology and facilities of high-speed railways as a means of rapid increase first and mass traffic system.

So, the U.S. didn’t made high speed rail way net-works.

Thomas Schuermann

Thank you for your interesting input. Made me aware that my original question was wrongly posed and too normative, so I amended it by now. My fault. Valued your valuable input and understand the phenomenon better.

It is understandable that you are trying to discuss this subject in concrete and detailed content.

The analysis of the characteristics of high-speed rail in the United States from your point of view is very important and interesting, from an academic point of view.

However, I believe that the motivation for evolving high-speed rail technology is not determined by some characteristics of high-speed rail, but by a broader perspective.

In Japan, coinciding with the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, the goal was to show the world the technology of reconstruction and Japan of the land devastated by World War II.

In China, the purpose was to transform from a planned economy led by the Communist Party to a new socialist market economy. China imitated the technology of Japan, Germany and France.

Other European countries have also realized that the revitalization of the rail business by high-speed rail has great benefits both economically and in terms of the global environment.

Such major motivation has not ever arisen in the United States. Therefore, I think that the technology of high-speed rail have not been developed in the United States.

Interesting historical perspective Hiroyuki. True, the Olympics were always a kick-off for innovations.