Currently a trip from New York to, say, Montreal, is over 10 hours. Similarly SLOW SPEEDS (in terms of order of magnitude) prevail from New York to Boston, New York to D.C. etc. As far as I know, there is as yet NO RAIL LINK between SF and LA (though one is planned, at 350 km/hr).
Japan is already implementing 500 (FIVE HUNDRED) Km/Hr speed magnetic levitation rail connections.
China is also already using Maglev technology as a feeder between Shanghai and its international airport
It is high time the US started state of the art catch-up in this field. Rail links can provide environmental ECONOMIES OF SCALE no airline can even hope to achieve, they can help accelerate the development of new cities or young cities that are way-stops between the major metropolitan centers.