Competitive with Airlines High Speed Rail on intermediate trips of about 200 to 400 miles is generally faster than taking an airline where you have long delays and wait times and rarely are on time.  The travel time depends on the route and if the railroad owns its track, much of the U.S.A. track is NOT owned by Amtrak, and thus passenger travel is slow.  In China, Japan, France, the UK, and Germany the track is dedicated to High-Speed rail and thus, can beat out or equal air travel time.  The BorderTransportationSystem is designed to handle both freight and passengers, with the prime passenger travel being on the very fast Mag Lev system, thus not only beating out air travel but also going to areas where air travel is not readily available, i.e., our U.S.A. / Mexican border towns and cities. Index of ... 27 reasons trains are better than planes High-Speed Rail - Wikipedia Planes versus high speed trains in the US Running the Numbers on High-Speed Trains