There are some routes where trains are more efficient, especially if you consider delays and time waiting in the airport. It's just that most of them are on th

There are some routes where trains are more efficient, especially if you consider delays and time waiting in the airport. It's just that most of them are on the east coast, where you have a lot of large, dense cities that don't require cars packed closely together. When people talk about passenger rail in America, they tend to forget that cities are pretty far apart. Milwaukee to Minneapolis, from the parent post, is still over 300 miles - about the same as Paris to Frankfurt. Even with high speed rail, Paris to Frankfurt is ~$160 for a 4 hour train, vs. $140 for a one hour flight. (Source: I just looked up prices on the internet, regular travelers of that route may know better ways).