[jhgb]

I'm pretty sure we also don't have equal rail density in all regions. So this is just the average. Nevertheless I'm not sure how this can swing a factor of two hundred. (If I use rail length per capita instead, which somewhat compensates for unpopulated regions, the advantage is still ~1.4x for non-electrified and ~50x for electrified rail.)

Also, is there any statistics for this northeast corridor, regarding region area, electrified, and non-electrified rail length? I only know where to get national statistics, so that doesn't help me a lot here.

[ghaff]

The Northeast Corridor where the Acela runs is all electrified. In fact the electrification of the tracks north of New Haven (so an engine switch was no longer needed) was one of the big benefits Acela brought to even the non-Acela trains.

I don't know what it looks like north (basically Portland) and south of the northeast corridor--or the non-coastal routes in New England.