Dawg,
There has to be a reason to go from point A to point B before it makes sense to build a speed train between them. Not only is this going to be a superfluous curiosity, it will probably be a terror target.
If you want high speed rail, there has to be a vast transportation network to get you to where you want go head to.
The reason why Japan’s HSR system works is because the trains stop at city centers which then have subways that FEED you to go to other places within the big cities.
Try for instance going from Osaka to Tokyo using their Shinkansen ( Bullet train ) and back. Minutes after you get to the HSR station in Tokyo ( or back to Osaka ), you can simply walk a block or two to take the ‘Chikatestsu’ ( subway) to get to your destination.
Can you do that with a high speed rail link between say, Orlando and Tampa or LA to San Francisco ?
Won’t work. Better to drive a car.
We are a VAST country unlike Japan. That is the main difference.
“There has to be a reason to go from point A to point B...”
You don’t want to take the Terror Train from Chicago to Detroit?