The United States is a country with 340 million people, 71 interstates and more than 5,000 public airports, and currently has no high-speed rail.

However, with the two high-speed railway (HSR) projects under construction now, and other planned projects are finally expected to start catching up with fast trains in China, Japan and Europe?

Rick Harnish of the U.S. campaign group High Speed ​​Rail Alliance said it was at least very happy to see the first two plans being formulated.

"The first one is the route to San Francisco from Los Angeles," he explained. "It's an incredible challenge because of the California mountains.

“Then Las Vegas to Los Angeles, which is a relatively easy project because it’s flat land.”

In addition, there are plans to go from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington to Vancouver, Canada. Another between Dallas and Houston.

However, Mr Hanish warned that planning work for the former is moving “slowly” and Texas is now even more suspicious as President Trump’s administration canceled $63.9 million (£48 million) of grants.

According to a clear comparison, the total length of China's HSR network will be reported to exceed 50,000 kilometers (31,000 miles) this year.

Meanwhile, the EU has an 8,556km HSR line, led by Spain's 3,190km.

In the UK, the only HSR line currently is High Speed ​​1, which is the 68-mile connection between the Channel Tunnel and London St Pancreas. But, despite the money being well known, Highway 2 is still being built from Euston, London to Birmingham.

Although there is no universally reached definition of what constitutes a high-speed rail, the International Railway Alliance, the Global Railway Trade Group, said that trains usually need to move at speeds above 250 km/h (155 mph).

So, why do we lag behind Europe, especially China?

“We are a very skilled country,” said Will Doig, a journalist and author of the American rail industry. “There are a lot of people who just think we need it, or really don’t want it to pass through their regions.

“And, the U.S. government has indeed shown its willingness to close investments in many projects, especially railroads.”

Further complicating the situation in the U.S. is that Stephen Gardner, the owner of Amtrak, a government-owned passenger train service, resigned last month. He reportedly stood down under pressure from the White House.

Amtrak does not currently use any HSR trains. Later this year, it will enter 28 new 160 mph Nextgen Acela trains to serve on the Northeast Corridor route between Boston and Washington, D.C. However, currently, only about 50 of the only 457 miles of the route can allow trains to travel at 150 mph.

Amtrak is not involved in high-speed lines built in California and Nevada. The Los Angeles-to-San Francisco project, known as the California High Speed ​​Rail, is led by California and completed in 2033.

From Los Angeles to Las Vegas, the Brightline West route is a privately run project. It is expected to open in 2028.

Mr Harnish said globally, there are 23 countries with HSR. His nonprofit’s only mission is to bring it to the United States.

He added that allowing HSR trains to operate safely is far from being directly operated. “You can’t have any intersection with the highway, it needs a very direct and sealed corridor.”

In China, the country is still building more and more HSR lines, with the total distance expected to reach 60,000 kilometers by 2030.

Chinese cities that get HSR links see their economy growing by 14.2%, according to Denmark-based think tank 21st Europe.

Chinese companies are also helping to build HSR systems in other Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Will Doig, who wrote a book called High Speed ​​Empire, China's Expansion and the Future of Southeast Asia, said China is not only interested in helping its neighbors improve its rail network.

"This is a way for China to strategically spread its influence," he said.

“In some of these cases, countries have already received loans from China so that China can build railways,” he warned, which could put them “in a position to look at them.”

Kaave Pour from Europe 21 said Europe's growing HSR network proves the continent's history of investing in its public infrastructure.

Now his think tank calls for further expansion of HSR in order to connect most of the EU's capitals and major cities with most of the UK's cities.

Mr. Pupps said that if the U.S. wants to develop HSR, it needs to start with a cultural shift, move towards more public transportation, and ask itself “What type of future does it want?”.

Mr Harnish of the High Speed ​​Rail Alliance said that in order for HSR to work in the United States, "the federal government is an indispensable part."

However, as already marked, the White House has plugged in, providing a federal grant for the planned high-speed line between Houston and Dallas. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy described the project as a “waste of taxpayers’ money.”

Scott Sherin is an executive at French train maker Alstom. His company has developed Amtrak's new high-speed train, but he questioned whether the United States has a political will to "transfer public wallets with rail transportation and other modes of transportation."

He also noted that any future HSR route will be difficult to access urban centers such as Dallas and Houston because there are too many buildings. “The problem is that the city is so densely packed with buildings (at the center of it).

Will Doig said that looking forward, he hopes to see China build more HSRs in the United States, but he doesn't hold his breath.

“It’s very politically difficult,” he said. “It’s so bad because without the hatred between the United States and China, you can see how their partnerships really make great things for the United States, which isn’t that good at building itself.”