[hedora]

Those two stations are 215 miles apart by car, and the trip takes 4 hours by train. The train is only averaging 53mph.

I don't think its popularity is a reasonable predictor of demand for a modern train that would be 3-4 times faster.

I'd wager if all the other competitors were also running with tech typical of the 1920's, the train would be more popular.

[bombcar]

At some point even if your train is infinitely fast, you can't get above a certain average speed, dependent on the distance between stations.

Fun fact: technically the boring large Pacific Surfliner trains could be "high speed rail" since they could get to 120 MPH through Camp Pendleton if the line had PTC and was signaled correctly. As it is hits 80-90 through there, but it soon has to slow down for a stop.

To do high-speed rail right you basically need four tracks - a slower local service that stops at every stop, and a faster high-speed express service that only stops rarely.

[iso1210]

Manchester-London is 180 miles and takes 2h20, which isn't great, certainly not high speed, but that's being rectified. Pre covid it was 3 trains an hour for the majority of the day.