Trains represent transportation means and technology 100 years older than the automobile, and were abandoned by the majority of travelers as inherently personally less efficient more often than more efficient, when the auto industry took off. And “speed” was not the primary consideration, as most trains were much faster than most automobile’s top speed for a long time after the automobile began to get established.
Train’s “going faster” might change the market dynamics between trains and planes, but for a number of reasons is not likely to change the market dynamics between trains and automobiles. It might not even change the market dynamics with planes all that much. I have traveled in multiple situations where the very best bus service available was better and more convenient than alternative train service, and a faster train would not have offset all the ways the bus was better. Buses can make connections wherever there are roads a bus can use. Train connections are limited to the limited number of train stations and they are all on fixed-dedicated train lines. In other words train routes have inherently fewer variables possible compared to ALL forms of transportation that use the roads. Even airplanes have alternate routes in the sky between point A and point B but a train does not.
I took my kids on a sight seeing train ride from Palestine to Rusk, TX. It is a steam engine with open cars. Nice ride through the woods.
We got halfway to Rusk and had to stop. A large pine tree had fallen on the tracks. So we went backwards to the original train station.