Originally Answered: Why is Amtrak so slow? Many country's high speed passenger trains run on dedicated tracks. They are the only trains that use them. The TGV in France runs on a dedicated track and there are no grade crossing on it. read more
Additionally, steam trains weren't very good at climbing hills - 1% was the maximum gradient for most steam trains; modern trains can easily climb a 3% gradient without slowing down; so steam-era construction in hilly or mountainous areas tends to curve a lot to minimise the gradients and to avoid the need for digging tunnels. read more
Unfortunately, if you live in the U.S., taking a train is at best slow and expensive, and at worst, totally unavailable. Part of this is because the United States is a big, big place, but so is China—a country that is building a network of state-of-the-art high-speed railways. read more