217mph? On all my train travels on China Rail High-speed, the intercity trains regularly cruise at 307-315kmh which is pretty close to 217mph. Their rail system is 100 years more advanced than anything we have in the USA. It’s new, it runs on elevated tracks and we could never afford to do it here. Nevertheless, it couldn’t compete tine wise/price wise with the current nonstop air.service between all the China-US city-pairs.
Cheapest freight is water transport.
Best passenger transport is Air - not much infrastructure costs and high speed.