[alant]

Not a fair comparison. Train is more suited for China since car ownership per capita is lower. Between cars and planes in the US, it’s hard for trains to compete. High car ownership rates in China would be bad for the environment given the large population. So, nice cars in the US, nice trains in China

[sytelus]

It’s a fair comparison. Cars are about 3X slower than bullet trains, even when there is no traffic. If SF to LA had a bullet train, it would take less than 2 hr instead of 6 hours. That’s huge difference even if you don’t count for return trip. More cars per capita is due to lack of such train network in first place. If you go to places like Switzerland which is pretty sparse, trains are defacto way to travel even when people could easily buy car if they wanted to. The country heavily invested in public transit resulting in lower cars per capita.

[alant]

I see your point. However, many things work in small countries like Switzerland where the population is more homogeneous and highly educated wouldn't work in large countries like the US with a more diverse population. Moreover, the tax rate is also quite different. Public transit like trains require tax money. However, car buying is more individual's decision. Unfortunately, raising taxes is quite unpopular in the US.