The commenter I replied to had said: "Being from India (where the rail system is awesome, even though its not high speed [...]", so we were talking non-high-spe

The commenter I replied to had said: "Being from India (where the rail system is awesome, even though its not high speed [...]", so we were talking non-high-speed for the purposes of this comparison of how he prefers rail to driving, and I prefer driving to rail. However, you're certainly under no obligation to care. :) The distances are much shorter in India. Moreover, most of the trains have bunks you can sleep on and are overnight trains. If you buy second class ticket between big metros, you are even served dinner and breakfast and all just for $30. Now you can chose between driving and riding a train.