Greentext

Those are called trolleys because they don't have doors

If you want to dive deeper into how rail cooperation was always hard I recommend looking into the history of the orient express

France has nearly the same population density as Ohio, and it has the TGV, which covers more than 5 times the land area of Ohio. So where's the Ohio high speed rail network?

This is the scale of Japan compared to the US east coast:

So why aren't there high speed lines that cover that same distance in the US?

Americans complain about US politicians and US policy on a near constant basis, and yet when comparing the US to other nations its apparently impossible for anyone to have made a stupid or self-serving decision. The US apparently is always operating at the absolute limit of what's physically possible, and if there's any deficiency compared to its peers its never because something was done wrong. Its always because "the US is too big" or "we're too diverse" (what does that even mean? You can't have nice things because black people exist?).

To be clear there are actual answers to the questions I posed above, but its not either of those moronic excuses.

That statement is a bit too broad for me. You can not only use highspeed rail within Germany but also to reach the countries around it. E.g. Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, (ICE trains) or use the TGV to reach Paris in a reasonable time.

But with the (illegal) border controls currently it's insufferable. Will travel through France by train in September and I fear that the border controls will totally derail (haha) our time and travel plans.

We decided to use the train because the air connections took us longer since we didn't want to vacate in a city with an airport and don't live in one either.

As someone from Russia, we have even larger territory, and going by rail is almost twice as cheap as by plane.

High speed rail from Saint Petersburg to Moscow will cost you ~$45, going by plane will set you back ~$75 on the cheapest flight with hand luggage only. Considering the time losses associated with airports, you'll be at your destination almost as fast for way cheaper, so this option is widely preferred.

Same story with long distance trips - I plan on going for a 1000km trip in July, and train ticket costed me the same $45, while cheapest plane tickets go around $100. It's also a night train with beds and all, so I have one night accommodation for free while on my way. Depart - have a nice sleep - be on your destination in the morning and have a full day to yourself, fully rested.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can go all the way from Moscow to Vladivostok by single train for $250. This will take almost a week, but it will get you around half the planet for that money.

Something like 30% of the US lives in the strip between Washington DC and Boston. It's absolutely achievable for the richest country on Earth to provide high speed rail in that section.