Check out this video. It contains so really eye-opening information about the expansion of high speed rail in the US, particularly in relation to other countries. It’s not the most exciting presentation, but the chart lays out some surprising facts.
Below is a screen capture of the chart for reference. Now let me add some context. The US has a land mass of 3,717,813 sq.miles and Japan about 145,883. In spite of that vast difference in size, the US is literally many hundreds of miles behind the US in terms of the expansion of high speed rail. The US has an inconsequential amount of high speed rail currently in operation and it looks like less than 1,000 miles planned to be in operation by 2025. Japan has approximately twice that already in operation and is still planning modest expansion.