China built its entire commuter train network in the last ~20 years from almost nothing and now have more track laid than any country by far while doing it for

China built its entire commuter train network in the last ~20 years from almost nothing and now have more track laid than any country by far while doing it for magnitudes less than the US. If a country that was suffering a self-implied famine killing tens of millions just half a century ago could go from that to high speed rail across half a continent then maybe the foremost superpower for going on a century could think about building a high speed train line anywhere in this century.