You are comparing operating costs of air travel to capital costs of rail travel - you need far beyond airplanes. The trains themselves are not that expensive, a

You are comparing operating costs of air travel to capital costs of rail travel - you need far beyond airplanes. The trains themselves are not that expensive, after all. You need to consider capital investment required for that air travel: How much does it cost to build the airports, repair centers, specialized land equipment, etc. to enable 640 billion passenger miles, and buy all the land required? Then you need to add airplane purchase costs - that's not optional either; before you even get to operating costs. You need to of course include airports for each city on the trains' route. The train goes through a massive population corridor across dozens of towns and cities, not just SF and LA. What's the capital cost of connecting these people to air travel?