>>1534503but here's the point. You have to reduce the distance down to a single hour by air (which you lied about) to even equate rail and air travel. Any city pair longer than this and air wins hands down.
here's how these memes relate to the OP. there are very few markets served by less than 1 hour in an airplane in the USA.. that don't involve crossing a mountain range or a great lake (or the Gulf of Mexico). Compare that to the number of markets served by 1+ hours distance by air.
the speed and ability to overcome obstacles provided by air to being a direct upgrade from HSR.. it's quite literally like creating a jet train, then getting rid of the rails.
you can try and counter that the road times aren't realistic because of traffic.. but that appears to be mostly related to London, and just suggests that London is a gigantic old shit city and getting out of the center takes forever for anything other than trains following a 130+ year old ROW.
If you wanted faster air travel you would just live/work closer to the airport than the train station simple as
also compare road travel vs HSR. Your chosen trip is less than a day by car. Your personal car has no scheduled departure time, and this journey takes less than a single day. It's only ~2 hours longer to have your personal car at the destination, saving you rentals and cabs.
