train travel distances in Europe and in the US

Had lunch with a friend last week. We discussed train travel and the excuses we’d heard by people as to why train travel in the US shouldn’t be invested in. One of the reasons often heard is “Distances in Europe between cities are much smaller, so train travel is easier”. So, I decided to look a few up.

Berlin, Germany -> Amsterdam, NL – 656km

Washington DC -> Boston, MA – 712km

Berlin, Germany -> Paris, France – 1055km,

Washington DC -> Atlanta,GA – 1026km

Washington  DC->New York, NY – 362km

London, UK -> Paris, France – 465km

Berlin, Germany -> Paris, France – 1055km,

Washington DC -> Atlanta, GA – 1026km

Now, that covers most of the east coast of the US. The distances are obviously not that untenable at all. It doesn’t cover transcontinental travel. Does that mean the east coast  and west coast (where the greatest density of the US population is) shouldn’t have much more rapid and much more frequent train travel? I don’t think so.