>>1827492>>1827505The wider point being that even with this 'suitability', the industry was in shambles until the US government stopped actively fucking it. Had deregulation happened decades earlier, the US would have an even better freight network than it has now.
The secular trend seen everywhere in the world was away from rail, but the ICC and other restrictive structures accelerated and worsened that trend in the US. Most of the US passenger network (especially absent state takeover/JNR-type investment) was going to be rolled back, but delayed action meant that we lost more than we actually had to.
As a result, even the Northeast Corridor, which Amtrak owns, and where everyone since the 1960s has agreed would benefit from true HSR, greatly lags the world standard and is greatly gimped by 120+ year old infrastructure.
Pic related shows that the areas of greatest freight volume aren't actually near the relevant population corridors; the antagonism is less than often supposed.
