[null and void]

BitWielder1 ~ Why would I spend 3 days on a train when I can go coast to coast in 8 hours on a plane?

SeekAndFind ~ Takes me only 5 hours to fly from NY to LA.

Including getting to the airport, parking, cavity searches, waiting for luggage and renting a car at the destination?

Uh, nevermind, you'd have to do those things at the rail terminal...

[BitWielder1]

Including getting to the airport, parking, cavity searches, waiting for luggage and renting a car at the destination?

Point is: Train days, Air hours.
All the hassles you mention won't change either.
And security... how are they supposed to guard tens of thousands of miles of railroad when they can't, or won't, guard some 2000+ miles of southern border.
Make a high-speed train de-rail and it will be every bit as ugly as a plane crash.